Ramani K. Raman
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Quotes By Famous Names
The famous theoretical physicist,
Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac was once asked as to what
he meant by the beauty of a mathematical theory of physics. To this, Dirac
replied: "If you are a mathematician then you need not be told, and if you
aren't one, then nothing could convince you of it"
-Freeman
Dyson
"I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum
Mechanics"
-
Richard P Feynman
For those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in
the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy.
-
Richard P. Feynman, in the book " The Character of Physical Law"
"If Quantum Theory is correct, it signifies the death of physics as a
science"
-Albert Einstien
"Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral
will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars".
-Sir James Jeans
"I believe there are
15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555,468,044,717,
914,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,631,031,296
protons in the universe and an equal number of electrons". (=2256 x
136)
-
Sir Arthur Eddington,
in "The Philosophy of Physical Science". Cambridge, 1939.
"The second law of thermodynamics holds, I think, the supreme position among
the laws of nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the
Universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse
for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation -
well, those experimentalists do bungle things up sometimes. but if your theory
is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no
hope; there is nothing to do but to collapse in deepest humiliation."
-
Sir Arthur Eddington,
in The Nature of the Physical World (1928)
"An equation for me, has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of
God"
- Srinivasa Ramanujam 1887 - 1918
Physics is not a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising
money.
- Leon Lederman
"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction
and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He
seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."
- 1921
New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary
rocket work.
"Correction: It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a
vacuum. The 'Times' regrets the error." -NY times, July 1969.
It was absolutely marvelous working for
Pauli. You could ask him anything. There was no worry that he would think
a particular question was stupid, since he thought all questions were stupid.
-Victor
Frederick Weisskopf
Physics is becoming so unbelievably complex that it is taking longer and
longer to train a physicist. It is taking so long to train a physicist to the
place where he understands the nature of physical problems that he is already
too old to solve them.
-Eugene Wigner
On the Funnier Side...
Twinkle, twinkle little star
I don't wonder what you are,
For by spectroscopic ken
I know that you are hydrogen
- D Bush , Science & English Poetry, OUP 1950
"Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although
he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by
examining his wives' mouths."
- Bertrand Russell
Quotes By Lecturers In Classroom
I do not claim any originality for the the following quotes. They are the most funny I found from among others at http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/burrows/quotes.html
"And now I want to consider a finite rotation through a large angle, which is not necessarily small."
"A cube is obviously not an ellipse in the normal sense."
"This circle has too much symmetry."
"Let's define another operator, Sz, which we won't pay any attention to."
"This transformation will automatically make zero equal to zero."
"I'm not sure what the diameter of the sun is, but compared with its radius, I think it is something like a part in a million."
"It may be true that zero equals zero -- and that is certainly an equality -- but I don't want to go into the details at this time."
"The future, I think, is not yet in existence ... "
