Tag Archives: Richard Feynman

Quip Origin: If You’re Not Part of the Solution You’re Part of the Precipitate

David Foster Wallace? Richard Feynman? Sally Grant? Herb Caen? Wes Craven? Garrison Keillor? Henry J. Tillman? Graffito? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Chemists have taken the popular saying (A) and converted it into the comical remark (B): (A) If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem. (B) If you’re not part …

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Quote Origin: The Philosophy of Science Is As Useful To Scientists As Ornithology Is To Birds

Richard Feynman? Steven Weinberg? Barnett Newman? John D. Barrow? Philip Kitcher? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The philosophy of science critically examines the foundations and methods of empiricism. Practitioners of science are sometimes indifferent or hostile to this analysis. Apparently, a scientist once presented the following derisive analogy: The philosophy of science is as …

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In Theory There Is No Difference Between Theory and Practice, While In Practice There Is

Yogi Berra? Albert Einstein? Richard Feynman? Benjamin Brewster? Charles F. Kettering? Walter J. Savitch? Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut? Dave Jeske? Chuck Reid? Dear Quote Investigator: The following popular adage balances unsteadily between brilliance and absurdity: In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. This notion has been attributed …

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Any Field That Had the Word “Science” in Its Name Was Guaranteed Thereby Not To Be a Science

Frank Harary? Gerald M. Weinberg? Marshall C. Yovits? Max Goldstein? Richard Feynman? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The participants in several fields of endeavor have selected names that include the word “science”, e.g., Political Science, Information Science, Military Science, Library Science, Domestic Science, and Computer Science. This motley collection inspired the following quip: Anything with “science” …

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All Science Is Either Physics or Stamp Collecting

Ernest Rutherford? John Desmond Bernal? Richard Feynman? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, while reading about the discovery of a new species of frog I marveled at the remarkable diversity of the biosphere. But, I was also reminded of the following humorous and barbed assertion: All science is either physics or stamp collecting. This statement has …

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