Gregory Benford Quotes

I work with a lot of scientists, and one of the frustrating things they find is that all this fascinating stuff is being done which doesn't find its way into science fiction. They say look at the science fact pages - they're so much more imaginative than science fiction.

Science is far from the center of the world for most people: even for many with highly sophisticated tastes, interests, and accomplishments.

When I was a child, it was cool to be a scientist.

If you're talking to a child, you're going, 'This is the wonder of science and here's why I'm so fascinated by it.'

Science to me is sufficiently weird and interesting, and stranger than fiction.

I was a terrible science student, so I could never be a scientist; my mind doesn't work that way. But I've learned to love the stories around science, and I have so much respect and fascination for the people who can make discoveries and find applications. There's a lot of drama there.

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

Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of the work they do.

I count myself fortunate to be able to participate in the life of science in this era.

But now I've got a young son and his interest is in science and now when I talk to him, I see that in the science sphere of our lives there is new, there is progress.

I vowed to myself that when I grew up and became a theoretical physicist, in addition to doing research, I would write books that I would have liked to have read as a child. So whenever I write, I imagine myself, as a youth, reading my books, being thrilled by the incredible advances being made in physics and science.

As you know, in most areas of science, there are long periods of beginning before we really make progress.

Some of the most fun people I know are scientists.

It takes years to realize the multiple benefits of science; without adequate, sustained funding for research, the careers of many bright, young scientists may come to a screeching halt.

When, as we must often do, we fear science, we really fear ourselves.

Very few recognize science as the high adventure it really is, the wildest of all explorations ever taken by human beings, the chance to glimpse things never seen before, the shrewdest maneuver for discovering how the world works.

If I could snap my fingers and do one thing in science, I would get more funding for basic science. But the level of funding that needs to be done is not on the order of millions, like the cost of the Breakthrough Prizes. It's billions to tens of billions.

I was interested in science before I even knew what science was.

You cannot create new science unless you realize where the old science leaves off and new science begins, and science fiction forces us to confront this.

You can only go into science because you're interested in it.

When I was the NIH director, I often expressed envy of institute directors: they had the money and ran the scientific programmes.

I love science, and I believe in it. I have a faith that science can solve problems and make the world a better place.

I suggest that the introductory courses in science, at all levels from grade school through college, be radically revised. Leave the fundamentals, the so-called basics, aside for a while, and concentrate the attention of all students on the things that are not known.

Whenever I think of how much pleasure I have interviewing scientists, I remember that they're having the real fun in actually being able to do the science.

I read science, because to me, that's extremely exciting. It's like a great detective story, and it's happening right in front of us.