Irwin Rose Quotes

Intellectual curiosity drove Einstein to some of the world's most important discoveries.

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory but simply failed to ask the right questions.

We are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist, and our work is a delightful game.

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

Scientific facts are often described in textbooks as if they just sort of exist, like nickels someone picked up on the street. But science at the cutting edge, conducted by sharp minds probing deep into nature, is not about self-evident facts. It is about mystery and not knowing. It is about taking huge risks.

Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search.

It can be said with complete confidence that any scientist of any age who wants to make important discoveries must study important problems. Dull or piffling problems yield dull or piffling answers. It is not enough that a problem should be "interesting".

Science is bound, by the everlasting vow of honor, to face fearlessly every problem which can be fairly presented to it.

If you sense a deep human need, then you go back to all the basic science. If there is some missing, then you try to do more basic science and applied science until you get it.

It only takes a day to change someone from an anti-intellectual to an intellectual by persuading him that he might be one!

You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.

What I knew was I liked math and science, and I never wanted to memorize everything. I wanted to understand where it came from.

One of the things Kuhn said about normal science is that people 'expect' things to be discovered.

I just try to stuff my brain with everything that I can read on what is going on in science at a very high level, and sometimes I see connections of what might need to be done.

As a number of people have stressed over the years, I think it would be premature to assume science itself will explain everything.

Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied.

Science began as one of the noblest expressions of man's reason. It will continue to serve humanity so long as it never forgets that human beings remain the heart of its purpose.

Education is far less about a set of facts than a way of thinking, than learning how to critically think. And therefore, what I always think should be the basis of education is not answers but questions.

Of necessity, a scientist typically studies one incredibly tiny sliver of some biological system, totally ensconced within one discipline, because even figuring out how one sliver works is really hard.

I loved science. I still love it; I'm a nerd in that sense.

My advice is not to aim for prizes and awards. We are in this for the joy of research, the fascination, the love of science. That's the reward, really.

As for me, I want to have fun while I'm working. Now not everyone thinks physics is fun, but I do. I think experimental physics is especially fun, because not only do you get to solve puzzles about the universe or on Earth, there are really cool toys in the lab.

I just love to read, learn, and think through complex things.

Research in the natural sciences operates in successive approximations. We are glad to be able to offer many good problems for research by generations to come.

The mark of higher education isn't the knowledge you accumulate in your head. It's the skills you gain about how to learn.