At terrestrial temperatures matter has complex properties which are likely to prove most difficult to unravel; but it is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Matter at Earth temperatures is complex and hard to understand, but future science should decode simpler systems like stars.
- In plain terms
- Complexity on Earth is hard, but stars may be easier to study.
- What can you take from it?
- Complexity varies; simpler cosmic systems may be understood first.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is complexity relative?
- What is easier to study?
Another view
Stars are not always simpler than terrestrial matter.
More from Arthur Stanley Eddington
Physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature.
Permalink to quote #2 I think that science would never have achieved much progress if it had always imagined unknown obstacles hidden round every corner. At least we may peer ginger…
Permalink to quote #4 We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we h…
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
The final result of our researches has widened the class of substances sensitive to light vibrations, until we can propound the fact of such sensitiveness bein…
Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell quote #2 Radioactivity is shown to be accompanied by chemical changes in which new types of matter are being continually produced. ... The conclusion is drawn that thes…
Ernest RutherfordErnest Rutherford quote #1 I am acutely aware of the fact that the marriage between mathematics and physics, which was so enormously fruitful in past centuries, has recently ended in div…
Freeman DysonFreeman Dyson quote #1