10 Enrico Fermi Quotes on Science

Enrico Fermi quotes on science

1. Although the problem of transmuting chemical elements into each other is much older than a satisfactory definition of the very concept of chemical element, it is well known that the first and most important step towards its solution was made only nineteen years ago by the late Lord Rutherford, who started the method of the nuclear bombardments.

3. Where are they?

6. If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist.

7. There are two possible outcomes: 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.

13. Whatever nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.

14. A three standard deviation is a statistical fluctuation; a five standard deviation effect is a miracle. Quoted by Owen Chamberlain.

15. Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration...

16. He was simply unable to let things be foggy. Since they always are, this kept him pretty active.

17. If Fermi had been born a few years earlier, one could well imagine him discovering Rutherford's atomic nucleus, and then developing Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom. If this sounds like hyperbole, anything about Fermi is likely to sound like hyperbole.

18. There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.