Science has taught us to think the unthinkable. Because when nature is the guide – rather than a priori prejudices, hopes, fears or desires – we are forced out of our comfort zone. One by one, pillars of classical logic have fallen by the wayside as science progressed in the 20th century, from Einstein’s realization that measurements of space and time were not absolute but observer-dependent, to quantum mechanics, which not only put fundamental limits on what we can empirically know but also demonstrated that elementary particles and the atoms they form are doing a million seemingly impossible things at once. Lawrence M Krauss
The greatest gift of science is that it teaches us we need to go beyond ourselves. Lawrence Krauss, with Richard Dawkins, Australian National University June 2017
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. Richard Feynman
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. Richard Feynman
It doesn’t seem to me that this fantastically marvellous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil – which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama. Richard Feynman, cited James Gleick 1992 ‘Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman’
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law 1965
If you’re doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid – not only what you think is right about it; other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you’ve eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked – to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated. Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. Richard Feynman
One thing is that I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs, in different degrees of certainty, about different things. But I’m not absolutely sure of anything and of many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, if I can’t figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn’t frighten me. Richard Feynman, interview BBC Horizon 1981
We’re exploring. We’re trying to find out as much as we can about the world. ibid.
Of course if we make good things, it is not only to the credit of science; it is also to the credit of the moral choice which led us to the good work. Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad – but it does not carry instructions on how to use it. Richard Feynman, The Value of Science 1955
The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty damn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty – some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain. ibid.
We can’t define anything precisely. Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures
This is the key of modern science and is the beginning of the true understanding of nature. This idea. That to look at the things, to record the details, and to hope that in the information thus obtained, may lie a clue to one or another of a possible theoretical interpretation. Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law, 1955
People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this theory with that theory, and they don’t give us a chance to tell them anything about what we know pretty well. They always want to know the things we don’t know. Richard Feynman, QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter 1985
What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school ... It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don’t understand it. You see my physics students don’t understand it ... That is because I don’t understand it. Nobody does. ibid.
Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation. Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1999
We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified – how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know. ibid.
The old problems, such as the relation of science and religion, are still with us, and I believe present as difficult dilemmas as ever, but they are not often publicly discussed because of the limitations of specialization. Richard Feynman, CALTEC YMCA forum 2nd May 1956
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard P Feynman
We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress. Richard P Feynman
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Richard P Feynman
Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds. Richard P Feynman
Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity. Nikola Tesla
The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of a planter – for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation of those who are to come and point the way. Nikola Tesla
The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. Nikola Tesla
Srinivasa Ramanujan was the strangest man in all of mathematics, probably in the entire history of science. He has been compared to a bursting supernova, illuminating the darkest, most profound corners of mathematics, before being tragically struck down by tuberculosis at the age of 33 ... Working in total isolation from the main currents of his field, he was able to rederive 100 years’ worth of Western mathematics on his own. The tragedy of his life is that much of his work was wasted rediscovering known mathematics. Michio Kaku
Scientists created the entire architecture of the twentieth century: television, radio, X-rays, radar, MRI – all of that sprung forth from the mind of a scientist. Michio Kaku
Technologies that may be realized in centuries or millennium include: warp drive, travelling faster than the speed of light, parallel universes; are there other parallel dimensions and parallel realities? Michio Kaku
It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. In fact, some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct. Michio Kaku, Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey
Beyond work and love, I would add two other ingredients that give meaning to life. First, to fulfil whatever talents we are born with. However blessed we are by fate with different abilities and strengths, we should try to develop them to the fullest, rather than allow them to atrophy and decay. We all know individuals who did not fulfil the promise they showed in childhood. Many of them became haunted by the image of what they might have become. Instead of blaming fate, I think we should accept ourselves as we are and try to fulfil whatever dreams are within our capability.
Second, we should try to leave the world a better place than when we entered it. As individuals, we can make a difference, whether it is to probe the secrets of Nature, to clean up the environment and work for peace and social justice, or to nurture the inquisitive, vibrant spirit of the young by being a mentor and a guide. Michio Kaku
Leaping across galaxies in a fraction of a second propelled by a form of energy with unimaginable power. Taking mankind beyond the ultimate frontier into the depths of the universe. Michio Kaku, Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible s1e1: How to Explore the Universe, Science 2009
The faster an object travels the more mass it gains. ibid.
There could be a loophole in Einstein’s theory … straight out of Star Trek. ibid.
Energy from nothing: this may be a key component. ibid.