Peter D. Mitchell Quotes

Every theory presented as a scientific concept is just that; it's a theory that tries to explain more about the world than previous theories have done. It is open to being challenged and to being proven incorrect.

Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one.

The process of science is difficult and challenging. It involves always being aware that your ideas might be right or they might be wrong. I think it's that kind of balance that makes science so interesting.

Most physicists like myself won't believe the result until every possible caveat has been investigated and/or the result is confirmed elsewhere.

The thrill of science is the process. It's a social process. It's a process of collective discovery. It's debate, it's experimentation and it's verification of claims that might be false. It's the greatest foundation for a society.

You make observations, write theories to fit them, try experiments to disprove the theories and, if you can't, you've got something.

Theorists have wonderful ideas which take years and years to be verified.

Science is a series of judgments, revised without ceasing.

In science, you can say things that seem crazy, but in the long run, they can turn out to be right. We can get really good evidence, and in the end, the community will come around.

There can be theory but, you know, the problem is you've got to be able to test it. So theories are one thing, testing is another.

Where we have good, testable explanations, they then have to be tested, and we drop the ones that fail the tests.

Science isn't about authority or white coats; it's about following a method. That method is built on core principles: precision and transparency; being clear about your methods; being honest about your results; and drawing a clear line between the results, on the one hand, and your judgment calls about how those results support a hypothesis.

In scientific work, those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact.

Science is a self-correcting discipline that can, in subsequent generations, show that previous ideas were not correct.

It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.

Science thrives on self-correction …. refutation almost always contains positive lessons that overwhelm disappointment.

Just as houses are made of stone, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house, and a collection of facts is not necessarily science

That's the nice thing about the field of science - the test of time sorts out the truth.

Science is evidence-based and provides a continuing understanding of complex natural phenomena. Our understanding is constantly evolving and continually improving.

Science is simply a powerful way of understanding what's real and what isn't, what's true and what's not. It can help us determine what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under what circumstances.

A valid scientific theory is predictive, verifiable, and replicable. To me, that's beautiful.

Science does not limit itself merely to what is currently verifiable. But it is interested in questions that are potentially verifiable (or, rather, falsifiable).

Science has authority, not because of white coats, or titles, but because of precision and transparency: you explain your theory, set out your evidence, and reference the studies that support your case.

Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.

Science consists exactly of those forms of knowledge that can be verified and duplicated by anybody.