The true contrast between science and religion is that science unites the world and makes it possible for people of widely differing backgrounds to work together and to cooperate. Religion, on the other hand, by its very claim to know โThe Truthโ through โrevelation,โ is inherently divisive and a creator of separatism and hostility.
Hermann BondiThe landscape has been so totally changed, the ways of thinking have been so deeply affected, that it is very hard to get hold of what it was like beforeโฆ It is very hard to realize how total a change in outlook Isaac Newton has produced.
Hermann BondiThe true contrast between science and religion is that science unites the world and makes it possible for people of widely differing backgrounds to work together and to cooperate. Religion, on the other hand, by its very claim to know โThe Truthโ through โrevelation,โ is inherently divisive and a creator of separatism and hostility.
Hermann BondiIf you walk along the street you will encounter a number of scientific problems. Of these, about 80 per cent are insoluble, while 19ยฝ per cent are trivial. There is then perhaps half a per cent where skill, persistence, courage, creativity and originality can make a difference. It is always the task of the academic to swim in that half a per cent, asking the questions through which some progress can be made.
Hermann BondiAll science is full of statements where you put your best face on your ignorance, where you say: ... we know awfully little about this, but more or less irrespective of the stuff we don't know about, we can make certain useful deductions.
Hermann BondiWhat I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics.
Hermann Bondi