Heidi Hammel Quotes

I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't work or the measurements look strange.

I like solving problems, and science provides a logical way of solving real-life problems.

I like to look for patterns in science and life. It's what I do.

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

I think all scientists are like detectives. We are most happy when we find something that doesn't fit our expectations.

Empirical interest will be in the facts so far as they are relevant to the solution of these problems.

Scientists learn about the world in three ways: They analyze statistical patterns in the data, they do experiments, and they learn from the data and ideas of other scientists. The recent studies show that children also learn in these ways.

I am not here concerned with intent, but with scientific standards, especially the ability to tell the difference between a fact, an opinion, a hypothesis, and a hole in the ground.

If your project doesn't work, look for the part that you didn't think was important.

The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions.

Science is not a game in which arbitrary rules are used to decide what explanations are to be permitted.

I found maths very easy, but I still enjoyed discovering things. You have to have the necessary information. For example, what's the difference between the mean and the median? Probability fascinated me. You have to think very carefully about things, which is the way my mind works anyway.

Research is creating new knowledge.

If you are a researcher, you are trying to figure out what the question is as well as what the answer is.

If you can help other people understand those truths - and in my mind, the only way I know to do that is with large scale, multi-year research projects, where you start with a question and then very rigorously and comprehensively answer that question.

One of the biggest and most important tools of theoretical physics is the wastebasket.

… to develop a plan to promote better science education

Science is a way of getting knowledge. It's a method. It's a method that really relies on making mistakes. We propose ideas, they are usually wrong, and we test them against the data. Scientists do this in a formal way. It's a way that everyone can go through life; that's how we should be teaching science from a very young age.

An actual scientist embraces debate because it sharpens their research.

If you have an analytical bent like I do, going back to my days as a programmer, you like to ask questions.

If you're a real scientist, you're constantly open to new data. Nothing is ever 100% validated.

Something my father dearly loved is the scientific method, and it's founded in this element of humility. The idea is that you pursue the truth wherever it goes; you need to evidence, and you can - you see if it's repeatable.

I always say, 'Let your experiment speak to you.' What I mean by that is I - actually, we, or, at least, I'm not smart enough, actually, to guess how nature is working, but by looking and doing the right experiments and paying close attention to the subtleties of it, you start to catch on.

Science is the practice of failing repeatedly but learning as you go.

Science is not a collection of facts; it is a process of discovery.