David A. Ridenour Quotes

One of the distinguishing features of anything that aspires to the name of science is the reproducibility of experimental results.

In my grandfather's lab, scientists did independent research, and peers reviewed and commented on its merits. Politics, he taught me, had no place in the scientific process.

I am not here concerned with intent, but with scientific standards, especially the ability to tell the difference between a fact, an opinion, a hypothesis, and a hole in the ground.

The wonderful thing about science is that in science, faith is shakable.

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.

The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.

A scientist... must accept the results of experiment, and nothing but the results of experiment.

I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.

The good thing about science is that it is true whether or not you believe in it.

The common aim of all science is the gradual removal of prejudice.

… scientists are required to back up their claims not with private feelings but with publicly checkable evidence. Their experiments must have rigorous controls to eliminate spurious effects.

Science is true, whether you believe it or not.

But I think you can strip the emotion and the subjectivity away while you focus on doing the science - and that's really important.

Science at its best is an open-minded method of inquiry, not a belief system.

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

Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Science is objective. And in my view we cannot take any experimental results seriously except in the light of good explanations of them.

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

Science by itself is about numbers, and it's about measuring things. It's very important but it's very dry.

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.

Science does not permit exceptions.

The scientific method actually correctly uses the most direct evidence as the most reliable, because that's the way you are least likely to get led astray into dead ends and to misunderstand your data.

Science is based on the possibility of objectivity, on the possibility of different people checking out for themselves the observations made by others. Without that possibility, there is no empirical principle capable of deciding between different arguments and theories.

In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons.