Physics Quote of the Day (December 13 - December 19)

"It appears, from all that precedes, reasonably certain that if there be any relative motion between the earth and the luminiferous ether, it must be small; quite small enough entirely to refute Fresnel's explanation of aberration." Albert Abraham Michelson, born 19 December 1852.

"The electron: may it never be of any use to anybody!" J. J. Thomson, born 18 December 1856.

"Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose that our views of science are ultimate; that there are no mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer." Humphry Davy, born 17 December 1778.

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." Arthur C. Clarke, born 16 December 1917.

"There is no such thing as a unique scientific vision, any more than there is a unique poetic vision. Science is a mosaic of partial and conflicting visions. But there is one common element in these visions. The common element is rebellion against the restrictions imposed by the locally prevailing culture,..." Freeman Dyson, born 15 December 1923.

"... the end of fundamental physics is nowhere in sight." Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, born 14 December 1965.

"It is seen as the application of a systematic “scientific method” involving wearing a white coat and being dull. I feel that too many young people come into science with this view, and that too many fields degenerate into the kind of work which results: automatic crank-turning and data-collecting of the sort which Kuhn calls “normal science” and Rutherford “stamp-collecting”. In fact, the creation of new science is a creative act, literally, and people who are not creative are not very good at it." Philip Warren Anderson, born 13 December 1923.