James Bryant Conant Quotes

A theory can be proved by experiment; but no path leads from experiment to the birth of a theory.

Science walks forward on two feet, namely theory and experiment. Sometimes it is one foot which is put forward first, sometimes the other, but continuous progress is only made by the use of both.

Science is a wonderful discipline, to which we are deeply indebted.

Science moves fastest when there's plenty of debate and controversy.

… new concepts arise from experiments and observations, and … the new concepts in turn lead to further experiments and observations.

A good scientist can understand the current state of a field, pick interesting questions where a success will actually lead to useful new knowledge, and push that field further through their work.

Science is the tool of the Western mind and with it more doors can be opened than with bare hands.

Experimenters are the shock troops of science.

[Modern science] passed through a long period of uncertainty and inconclusive experiment, but as the instrumental aids to research improved, and the results of observation accumulated, phantoms of the imagination were exorcised, idols of the cave were shattered, trustworthy materials were obtained for logical treatment, and hypotheses by long and careful trial were converted into theories.

In the philosophic sense, observation shows and experiment teaches.

Science is a combination of theory and experiment and the two together are how you make progress.

In the realm of scientific observation, luck is granted only to those who are prepared.

Science is a dynamic undertaking directed to lowering the degree of the empiricism involved in solving problems; or, if you prefer, science is a process of fabricating a web of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiments and observations and fruitful of further experiments and observations.

From the dawn of exact knowledge to the present day, observation, experiment, and speculation have gone hand in hand; and, whenever science has halted or strayed from the right path, it has been, either because its votaries have been content with mere unverified or unverifiable speculation (and this is the commonest case, because observation and experiment are hard work, while speculation is amusing); or it has been, because the accumulation of details of observation has for a time excluded speculation.

I have emphasized experiments more than theory. Of course, we need some theory when thinking of soft matter.

Great scientific contributions have been techniques.

I love to watch how scientists' minds work.

Experimentation is an active science.

We must revisit the idea that science is a methodology and not an ontology.

Experience by itself is not science.

Our security and independence require that more young people devote themselves to science and research.

if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

I always looked at myself as a physicist learning new tricks by looking at nature.

The public has a distorted view of science because children are taught in school that science is a collection of firmly established truths. In fact, science is not a collection of truths. It is a continuing exploration of mysteries.