Where facts are few, experts are many.
—Donald R. Gannon
8
Facts are the air of a scientist. Without them you never can fly. Without them your
‘theories’ are vain efforts.
—Ivan Pavlov, 1936
Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.
—Charles McCabe
9
***
The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them.
—Samuel McChord Crothers, 1903
Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones, but a collection of facts is no more a
science that a heap of stones is a house.
—Henri Poincaré, 1902
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways
of thinking about them.
—Lawrence Bragg, 1958
10
Theory is the essence of facts. Without theory, scientific knowledge would be only worthy
of the madhouse.
—Oliver Heaviside, 1893
There is nothing more practical than a good theory.
—Kurt Lewin, 1943
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, while in practice, there is.
—Benjamin Brewster, 1882
11
Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off
through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to
reality.
12
—Nikola Tesla, 1934
8
Unfortunately, I could not identity this author, though the attribution is very common, starting not
later than 1996.
9
Apparently, first published in the San Francisco Chronicle some time between the mid-1950s and
1983.
10
Sometimes misattributed to his farther, Sir William Henry Bragg (1862–1942).
11
Frequently misattributed to some Chuck Reid, and less often to Albert Einstein and Richard
Feynman.
12
It is commonly acknowledged now that even such an inventor of genius as Tesla could benefit
from using more math/theory in his work.
On Science and Technology
29
—Donald R. Gannon
8
Facts are the air of a scientist. Without them you never can fly. Without them your
‘theories’ are vain efforts.
—Ivan Pavlov, 1936
Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.
—Charles McCabe
9
***
The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them.
—Samuel McChord Crothers, 1903
Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones, but a collection of facts is no more a
science that a heap of stones is a house.
—Henri Poincaré, 1902
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways
of thinking about them.
—Lawrence Bragg, 1958
10
Theory is the essence of facts. Without theory, scientific knowledge would be only worthy
of the madhouse.
—Oliver Heaviside, 1893
There is nothing more practical than a good theory.
—Kurt Lewin, 1943
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, while in practice, there is.
—Benjamin Brewster, 1882
11
Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off
through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to
reality.
12
—Nikola Tesla, 1934
8
Unfortunately, I could not identity this author, though the attribution is very common, starting not
later than 1996.
9
Apparently, first published in the San Francisco Chronicle some time between the mid-1950s and
1983.
10
Sometimes misattributed to his farther, Sir William Henry Bragg (1862–1942).
11
Frequently misattributed to some Chuck Reid, and less often to Albert Einstein and Richard
Feynman.
12
It is commonly acknowledged now that even such an inventor of genius as Tesla could benefit
from using more math/theory in his work.
On Science and Technology
29