Quote

Do not put too much confidence in experimental results until they have been confirmed by theory.

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
Confirmed
Experimental
Confidence
Theory
Results
Much

More quotes by Arthur Eddington

Image
Who will observe the observers?
Arthur Eddington
Image
In the most modern theories of physics probability seems to have replaced aether as the nominative of the verb 'to undulate'.
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
Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality apart from its linkage to consciousness.
Arthur Eddington
Image
I believe there are 15, 747, 724, 136, 275, 002, 577, 605, 653, 961, 181, 555, 468, 044, 717, 914, 527, 116, 709, 366, 231, 425, 076, 185, 631, 031, 296 protons in the universe and the same number of electrons.
Arthur Eddington
Image
When an investigator has developed a formula which gives a complete representation of the phenomena within a certain range, he may be prone to satisfaction. Would it not be wiser if he should say 'Foiled again! I can find out no more about Nature along this line.'
Arthur Eddington
Image
Shuffling is the only thing which Nature cannot undo.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The mathematics is not there till we put it there.
Arthur Eddington
Image
But it is necessary to insist more strongly than usual that what I am putting before you is a model-the Bohr model atom-because later I shall take you to a profounder level of representation in which the electron instead of being confined to a particular locality is distributed in a sort of probability haze all over the atom.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Don't believe the results of experiments until they're confirmed by theory.
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
Human life is proverbially uncertain few things are more certain than the solvency of a life-insurance company.
Arthur Eddington
Image
Events do not happen they are just there, and we come across them.
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
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.
Arthur Eddington
Image
The electron, as it leaves the atom, crystallises out of Schrodinger's mist like a genie emerging from his bottle.
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
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