Education in my family was not merely emphasized, it was our raison d'etre.

The atoms become like a moth, seeking out the region of higher laser intensity.

At Rochester, I came with the same emotions as many of the entering freshman: everything was new, exciting and a bit overwhelming, but at least nobody had heard of my brothers and cousins.

Pick the right sized pot, don't pick a pot five times bigger, twice as big.

If I were emperor of the world, I would put the pedal to the floor on energy efficiency and conservation for the next decade.

If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we will be at a disadvantage...we would look at considering perhaps duties that would offset that cost.

I approached the bulk of my schoolwork as a chore rather than an intellectual adventure. The tedium was relieved by a few courses that seem to be qualitatively different. Geometry was the first exciting course I remember. Instead of memorizing facts, we were asked to think in clear, logical steps. Beginning from a few intuitive postulates, far reaching consequences could be derived, and I took immediately to the sport of proving theorems.