"Mountain climbing is an analogue of the research process in theoretical physics. In working on a problem in physics one is never assured of a solution, because there are many false leads and pitfalls. Likewise in climbing there is no certainty of attaining the summit; the route is often unknown, or sometimes one attains a false summit. But the important point is that if you reach the top, the view is enormous. There is no comparison between what you see from just below the summit and what you can see from the top. Similarly with finally solving an important problem in physics the view you get is enormous."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Educators from the United StatesPeople from New York CityPhysicists from the United StatesStanford University alumniPrinceton University alumni
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 272
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heinz_Pagels
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Heinz Pagels
Heinz Rudolf Pagels (February 19, 1939 – July 23, 1988) was an American physicist, an adjunct professor of physics at Rockefeller University, the executive director and chief executive officer of the New York Academy of Sciences, and president of the International League for Human Rights.
9 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Heinz Pagels →
Related Quotes
"Some years later I spoke to a mentally disturbed young man. Very agitatedly, he described to me how alien beings from…"
"I used to climb mountains in snow and ice, hanging onto the sides of great rocks. I was describing one of my adventur…"
"I often dream about falling. Such dreams are commonplace to the ambitious or those who climb mountains. Lately I drea…"
"Most physicists enjoy the outdoors. They are mushroom gatherers, bird watchers, hikers, amateur mountaineers whose id…"
"People did not always love the mountains. Just a few hundred years ago the high mountains were regarded as horrible, …"
"Perhaps our thinking exemplifies a selective system. First lots of random scattered ideas compete for survival. Then …"
"Although the idea that the universe has an order that is governed by natural laws that are not immediately apparent t…"
"We surely stand at the threshold of a great adventure of the human spirit — a new synthesis of knowledge, a potential…"
"It is very unlikely that we would drive to extinction any native Martian microorganisms in the process of extending t…"
"We do not need a lunar-orbiting station to go to the Moon. We do not need such a station to go to Mars. We do not nee…"