"Each piece, or part, of the whole of nature is always merely an approximation to the complete truth, or the complete truth so far as we know it. In fact, everything we know is only some kind of approximation, because we know that we do not know all the laws as yet. Therefore, things must be learned only to be unlearned again or, more likely, to be corrected." (Richard Feynman, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" Vol. 1,1964)
"The 'underlying unity' might mean that everything is made out of the same stuff, and therefore obeys the same equations. That sounds like a good explanation, but let us think. The electrostatic potential, the diffusion of neutrons, heat flow - are we really dealing with the same stuff? Can we really imagine that the electrostatic potential is physically identical to the temperature, or to the density of particles? [...] The displacement of a membrane is certainly not like a temperature. Why, then, is there 'an underlying unity'? [...] Is it possible that this is the clue? That the thing which is common to all the phenomena is the space, the framework into which the physics is put? As long as things are reasonably smooth in space, then the important things that will be involved will be the rates of change of quantities with position in space. That is why we always get an equation with a gradient. [...] What is common to all our problems is that they involve space. " (Richard Feynman, "Lecture Notes on Physics" Vol. 3, 1964)
"Why are the equations from different phenomena so similar? We might say: ‘It is the underlying unity of nature.’ But what does that mean? What could such a statement mean? It could mean simply that the equations are similar for different phenomena; but then, of course, we have given no explanation. The underlying unity might mean that everything is made out of the same stuff, and therefore obeys the same equations." (Richard P Feynman, "Lecture Notes on Physics" Vol. III, 1964)
"In its efforts to learn as much as possible about nature, modem physics has found that certain things can never be ‘known’ with certainty. Much of our knowledge must always remain uncertain. The most we can know is in terms of probabilities." (Richard P Feynman, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", 1964)
"Another thing I must point out is that you cannot prove a vague theory wrong. If the guess that you make is poorly expressed and rather vague, and the method that you use for figuring out the consequences is a little vague - you are not sure, and you say, 'I think everything's right because it's all due to so and so, and such and such do this and that more or less, and I can sort of explain how this works' […] then you see that this theory is good, because it cannot be proved wrong! Also if the process of computing the consequences is indefinite, then with a little skill any experimental results can be made to look like the expected consequences." (Richard P Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"If science is to progress, what we need is the ability to experiment, honestly in reporting the results - the results must be reported without somebody saying what they would like the results to have been - and finally - an important thing - the intelligence to interpret the results. An important point about this intelligence is that it should not be sure ahead of time what must be. It cannot be prejudiced, and say 'That is very unlikely; I don’t like that.'" (Richard P Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"So in order to understand the physics one must always have a neat balance and contain in his head all of the various propositions and their interrelationships because the laws often extend beyond the range of their deductions. This will only have no importance when all the laws are known." (Richard Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"This is the key of modern science and it was the beginning of the true understanding of Nature - this idea to look at the thing, to record the details, and to hope that in the information thus obtained might lie a clue to one or another theoretical interpretation." (Richard P Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"People may come along and argue philosophically that they like one better than another; but we have learned from much experience that all philosophical intuitions about what nature is going to do fail." (Richard Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"So the first thing we have to accept is that even in mathematics you can start in different places. If all these various theorems are interconnected by reasoning there is no real way to say ‘These are the most fundamental axioms’, because if you were told something different instead you could also run the reasoning the other way. It is like a bridge with lots of members, and it is over-connected; if pieces have dropped out you can reconnect it another way." (Richard Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"The method of guessing the equation seems to be a pretty effective way of guessing new laws. This shows again that mathematics is a deep way of expressing nature, and any attempt to express nature in philosophical principles, or in seat-of-the-pants mechanical feelings, is not an efficient way." (Richard Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature. […] If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in." (Richard P Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law", 1965)
"We decided that ‘trivial’ means ‘proved’. So, we joked with the mathematicians: "We have a new theorem - that mathematicians can prove only trivial theorems, because every theorem that’s proved is trivial." (Richard P Feynman, "Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character", 1985)
"[…] the more you see how strangely Nature behaves, the harder it is to make a model that explains how even the simplest phenomena actually work. So theoretical physics has given up on that." (Richard P Feynman, "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter", 1985)
"It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress which is the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations." (Richard P (Feynman, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?", 1988)
"The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific ‘truth’." (Richard Feynman, "Six Easy Pieces", 1994)
"The rate of the development of science is not the rate at which you make observations alone but, much more important, the rate at which you create new things to test." (Richard Feynman, "The Meaning of It All", 1998)
"When the scientist tells you he does not know the answer, he is an ignorant man. When he tells you he has a hunch about how it is going to work, he is uncertain about it. When he is pretty sure of how it is going to work, and he tells you, 'This is the way it is going to work, I’ll bet', he still is in some doubt. And it is of paramount importance, in order to make progress, that we recognize this ignorance and this doubt. Because we have the doubt, we then propose looking in new directions for new ideas. The rate of development in science is not the rate at which you make observations alone but, much more important, the rate at which you create new things to test." (Richard P Feynman, "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist", 1998)
"Mathematics is trivial, but I can’t do my work without it." (Richard Feynman)
"Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." (Richard Feynman) [attributed to]
"One measure of our understanding is the number of independent ways we are able to get to the same result." (Richard P Feynman)
No comments:
Post a Comment