There is in my opinion a great similarity between the problems provided by the mysterious behavior of the atom and those provided by the present economic paradoxes confronting the world.
Paul DiracLiving is worthwhile if one can contribute in some small way to this endless chain of progress.
Paul DiracHopes are always accompanied by fears, and, in scientific research, the fears are liable to become dominant.
Paul DiracThe underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated to be soluble. It therefore becomes desirable that approximate practical methods of applying quantum mechanics should be developed, which can lead to an explanation of the main features of complex atomic systems without too much computation.
Paul Dirac