Arthur Eddington

1882–1944 · British astrophysicist

Topics: physics, learning, mathematics, debugging

• It is an astonishing feat of deciphering that we should have been able to infer an orderly scheme of natural knowledge from such indirect communication.

  — Arthur Eddington

• There once was a brainy baboon, Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, "It appears That in billions of years I shall certainly hit on a tune".

  — Arthur Eddington

• The man in the street is always making this demand for concrete explanation of the things referred to in science; but of necessity he must be disappointed.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The external world of physics has thus become a world of shadows. In removing our illusions we have removed the substance, for indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of our illusions.

  — Arthur Eddington

• Physical science comes nearest to that complete system of exact knowledge which all sciences have before them as an ideal. Some fall far short of it.

  — Arthur Eddington

• There is no need for disappointment at the failure of the model to give perfect agreement with observation; it has served its purpose, for it has distinguished what are the features of the actual which require new conditions for their explanation.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The mathematics is not there till we put it there.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The finding of one generation will not serve for the next. It tarnishes rapidly except it be reserved with an ever-renewed spirit of seeking.

  — Arthur Eddington

• All change is relative. The universe is expanding relatively to our common material standards; our material standards are shrinking relatively to the size of the universe.

  — Arthur Eddington

• We have been pulling at the wrong end of the tangle, which has to be unravelled by a different approach. But after a general agreement with observation is established, and the tangle begins to loosen, we should always make ready for the next knot.

  — Arthur Eddington

• A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us.

  — Arthur Eddington

• If our so-called facts are changing shadows, they are shadows cast by the light of constant truth.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The laws of logic do not prescribe the way our minds think; they prescribe the way our minds ought to think.

  — Arthur Eddington

• 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.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The whole subject-matter of exact science consists of pointer readings and similar indications.

  — Arthur Eddington

• It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset.

  — Arthur Eddington

• In the stars matter has its preliminary brewing to prepare the greater variety of elements which are needed for a world of life.

  — Arthur Eddington

• For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.

  — Arthur Eddington

• Clearly a statement cannot be tested by observation unless it is an assertion about the results of observation. Every item of physical knowledge must therefore be an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure.

  — Arthur Eddington

• The chairs and tables around us which broadcast to us incessantly those signals which affect our sight and touch cannot in their nature be like unto the signals or to the sensations which the signals awake at the end of their journey.

  — Arthur Eddington