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One would have to have completely forgotten the history of science so as to not remember that the desire to know nature has had the most constant and the happiest influence on the development of mathematics.

Henri Poincare

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Henri Poincare
Age: 58 †
Born: 1854
Born: April 29
Died: 1912
Died: July 17
Astronomer
Engineer
Mathematician
Philosopher
Philosopher Of Science
Physicist
Researcher
Topologist
University Teacher
Le Cateau
Jules Henri Poincaré
Poincaré
Henri Poincare
Jules Henri Poincare
Poincare
Development
Influence
Desire
History
Happiest
Science
Mathematics
Nature
Forgotten
Remember
Constant
Would
Completely

More quotes by Henri Poincare

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If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living
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How is it that there are so many minds that are incapable of understanding mathematics? ... the skeleton of our understanding, ... and actually they are the majority. ... We have here a problem that is not easy of solution, but yet must engage the attention of all who wish to devote themselves to education.
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The subliminal self is in no way inferior to the conscious self. It knows how to choose and to divine.
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Mathematicians do not study objects, but the relations between objects.
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Most striking at first is the appearance of sudden illumination, a manifest sign of long unconscious prior work.
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What is a good definition? For the philosopher or the scientist, it is a definition which applies to all the objects to be defined, and applies only to them it is that which satisfies the rules of logic. But in education it is not that it is one that can be understood by the pupils.
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It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.
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Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.
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Pure logic could never lead us to anything but tautologies it can create nothing new not from it alone can any science issue.
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Just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts.
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How is error possible in mathematics?
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A scientist worthy of his name, about all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.
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It is the simple hypotheses of which one must be most wary because these are the ones that have the most chances of passing unnoticed.
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Doubting everything and believing everything are two equally convenient solutions that guard us from having to think
Henri Poincare
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If we ought not to fear mortal truth, still less should we dread scientific truth. In the first place it can not conflict with ethics? But if science is feared, it is above all because it can give no happiness? Man, then, can not be happy through science but today he can much less be happy without it.
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When the physicists ask us for the solution of a problem, it is not drudgery that they impose on us, on the contrary, it is us who owe them thanks.
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. . . by natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient. Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.
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Mathematical discoveries, small or great are never born of spontaneous generation.
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Logic sometimes makes monsters. For half a century we have seen a mass of bizarre functions which appear to be forced to resemble as little as possible honest functions which serve some purpose.
Henri Poincare
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It is a misfortune for a science to be born too late when the means of observation have become too perfect. That is what is happening at this moment with respect to physical chemistry the founders are hampered in their general grasp by third and fourth decimal places.
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