Quote

Splitting the atom is like trying to shoot a gnat in the Albert Hall at night and using ten million rounds of ammunition on the off chance of getting it. That should convince you that the atom will always be a sink of energy and never a reservoir of energy.

Ernest Rutherford

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Ernest Rutherford
Age: 66 †
Born: 1871
Born: August 30
Died: 1937
Died: October 19
Chemist
Nuclear Physicist
Physicist
Politician
Professor
Nelson
New Zealand
Ernest Lord Rutherford
E. Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
primer barón Rutherford. de Nelson
Ernest
Lord Rutherford
Millions
Halls
Reservoir
Like
Getting
Atoms
Reservoirs
Chance
Shoot
Ammunition
Energy
Convince
Albert
Night
Rounds
Splitting
Trying
Ten
Atom
Using
Sink
Gnat
Always
Million
Hall
Gnats
Never

More quotes by Ernest Rutherford

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Never say, I tried it once and it did not work.
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Radioactivity is shown to be accompanied by chemical changes in which new types of matter are being continually produced. .... The conclusion is drawn that these chemical changes must be sub-atomic in character.
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I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies.
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All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
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You know, I am sorry for the poor fellows that haven't got labs to work in.
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When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.
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Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.
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We haven't got the money, so we've got to think.
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Now I know what the atom looks like.
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A good scientific theory should be explicable to a barmaid.
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An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.
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Don't let me catch anyone talking about the Universe in my department.
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Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.
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Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.
Ernest Rutherford
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If, as I have reason to believe, I have disintegrated the nucleus of the atom, this is of greater significance than the war.
Ernest Rutherford
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The greatest contributor to the feeling of tension and fear of war arose from the power of the bombing aeroplane. If all nations would consent to abolish air bombardment . . . that would mean the greatest possible release from fear.
Ernest Rutherford
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I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)
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I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.
Ernest Rutherford
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If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.
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All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.
Ernest Rutherford