Quote

Asked in 1919 whether it was true that only three people in the world understood the theory of general relativity, [Eddington] allegedly replied: Who's the third?

Arthur Eddington

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Arthur Eddington
Age: 61 †
Born: 1882
Born: December 28
Died: 1944
Died: November 22
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Philosopher
Physicist
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
Sir Arthur Eddington
People
Asked
Theory
Allegedly
Understanding
Relativity
Whether
Replied
Science
Third
Three
Thirds
True
General
World
Understood

More quotes by Arthur Eddington

Image
An ocean traveler has even more vividly the impression that the ocean is made of waves than that it is made of water.
Arthur Eddington
Image
There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is. The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven around the electron it belongs to the waiting list.
Arthur Eddington
Image
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.
Arthur Eddington
Image
It is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they are confirmed by theory.
Arthur Eddington
Image
It is a primitive form of thought that things exist or do not exist.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The mathematics is not there till we put it there.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Do not put too much confidence in experimental results until they have been confirmed by theory.
Arthur Eddington
Image
In any attempt to bridge the domains of experience belonging to the spiritual and physical sides of nature, time occupies the key position.
Arthur Eddington
Image
It cannot be denied that for a society which has to create scarcity to save its members from starvation, to whom abundance spells disaster, and to whom unlimited energy means unlimited power for war and destruction, there is an ominous cloud in the distance though at present it be no bigger than a man's hand.
Arthur Eddington
Image
There once was a brainy baboon, Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, It appears That in billions of years I shall certainly hit on a tune.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Our ultimate analysis of space leads us not to a here and a there, but to an extension such as that which relates here and there. To put the conclusion rather crudely-space is not a lot of points close together it is a lot of distances interlocked.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The quest of the absolute leads into the four-dimensional world.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Something unknown is doing we don't know what-that is what our theory amounts to.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory.
Arthur Eddington
Image
What is possible in the Cavendish Laboratory may not be too difficult in the sun.
Arthur Eddington
Image
I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars.
Arthur Eddington
Image
It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Don't believe the results of experiments until they're confirmed by theory.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Human life is proverbially uncertain few things are more certain than the solvency of a life-insurance company.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Unless the structure of the nucleus has a surprise in store for us, the conclusion seems plain — there is nothing in the whole system of laws of physics that cannot be deduced unambiguously from epistemological considerations.
Arthur Eddington