Richard P. Feynman

If you don't know who Dr. Richard Feynman was, I feel sorry for you. He was a physicist, artist, bongo player and all around curious character. He worked on thw first A-bomb in Los Alamos and figured out why the space shuttle Challanger exploded. Here's a few quotes from him:


"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."


"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."


You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.


"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. "


"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on."


"...far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?"


(On pseudoscience) "...there is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty -- a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, 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... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them."


"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)

I like the last one... not only is it kind of funny, but also probably true. Great post again NTH!

For those of you who didn't get it, that's a pic of him in Purdue's avatar.