It was, no doubt, particularly of [Joseph Fourier’s] very disregard for rigor that he was able
to take conceptual steps which were inherently impossible to men of more critical genius.
—Rudolph Ernst Langer, 1947
Nothing is more repellent to normal human beings than the clinical succession of definitions, axioms, and theorems generated by the labors of pure mathematicians.
—J. M. Ziman, 1969
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking
about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
—Bertrand Russell, 1901
***
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are
certain, they do not refer to reality.
—Albert Einstein, 1920
If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get
very far in our understanding of the physical world.
—Vannevar Bush, 1945
[In physics,] precise logical thinking, typical for mathematicians, inhibits suggestion of new
ideas, because it arrests imagination.
—Pyotr Kapitsa, 1973
It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so
abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.
—Richard Feynman, 1965
In physics, your solution should convince a reasonable person. In math, you have to
convince a person who's trying to make trouble. Ultimately, in physics, you’re hoping to
convince Nature. And I’ve found Nature to be pretty reasonable.
—Frank Wilczek, 2009
***
Oh, physics! That’s too much difficult for physicists.
—David Hilbert, 1925
All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
—Ernest Rutherford
1
1
As quoted, without a date, by J. B. Birks in 1962.
42
On Sciences and Technologies
to take conceptual steps which were inherently impossible to men of more critical genius.
—Rudolph Ernst Langer, 1947
Nothing is more repellent to normal human beings than the clinical succession of definitions, axioms, and theorems generated by the labors of pure mathematicians.
—J. M. Ziman, 1969
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking
about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
—Bertrand Russell, 1901
***
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are
certain, they do not refer to reality.
—Albert Einstein, 1920
If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get
very far in our understanding of the physical world.
—Vannevar Bush, 1945
[In physics,] precise logical thinking, typical for mathematicians, inhibits suggestion of new
ideas, because it arrests imagination.
—Pyotr Kapitsa, 1973
It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so
abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.
—Richard Feynman, 1965
In physics, your solution should convince a reasonable person. In math, you have to
convince a person who's trying to make trouble. Ultimately, in physics, you’re hoping to
convince Nature. And I’ve found Nature to be pretty reasonable.
—Frank Wilczek, 2009
***
Oh, physics! That’s too much difficult for physicists.
—David Hilbert, 1925
All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
—Ernest Rutherford
1
1
As quoted, without a date, by J. B. Birks in 1962.
42
On Sciences and Technologies