Louis Pasteur Quotes


Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.


Citations

Pasteur, Louis. Speech at the International Medical Congress, Copenhagen, 9 Aug. 1884. Oeuvres de Pasteur, edited by Pasteur Vallery-Radot, vol. 7, Masson et cie, 1939, p. 370.

Related Quotes

The societies that had regularly produced the great advances in the sciences were those that allowed its citizens much liberty—liberty of thought, expression, association, etc. Where religious dogma controlled thought and expression, great scientific achievements were far less probable or less productive. Imagine, what Galileo might have achieved if the Church had not curtailed his efforts. When Islamic society was open, the sciences flourished whereas they were stifled in Christian Europe, but once Islam closed and liberty was no more, Islamic science degenerated to its low point of the 21st century.


By symbols be was not only referring to metaphorical symbols of letters, words, digrams, numbers and formulas. The vast majority of all human knowledge is spread by symbols of one kind or another. The must sophisticated devices or weapons all boil down to sets of words, formulas and diagrams. Art is almost all symbolic.


While Wikipedia has not yet reached every person in the world, it has already distributed more human knowledge than any other vehicle in human history. And all at no cost to the user. It is certainly the greatest volunteer intellectual effort in history.


There was the beginning of a major debate in the advanced countries over the notion of copyright to protect authors and knowledge being a public property. The solution for America and most nations was to allow copyright protection for the specific expression of the knowledge but not the knowledge itself. You cannot copyright an idea or the laws of science—just the way they are expressed. Therefore all are free to discuss the knowledge and also write about it.


Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
  • Born: December 27, 1822
  • Died: September 28, 1895
  • Nationality: French
  • Profession: Scientist

Louis Pasteur ForMemRS was a French biologist, microbiologist, and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of diseases, and his discoveries have saved many lives ever since. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax.