John Archibald Wheeler quotes
John Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist famed for his work in nuclear physics and gravitation. A pioneer of modern physics, he coined the term "black hole" and contributed to the Manhattan Project. He inspired generations of scientists through his teaching, research, and innovative ideas. Here are 23 of his quotes:
Is the very mechanism for the universe to come into being meaningless or unworkable or both unless the universe is guaranteed to produce life, consciousness and observership somewhere and for some little time in its history-to-be? The quantum principle shows that there is a sense in which what the observer will do in the future defines what happens in the past-even in a past so remote that life did not then exist, and shows even more, that 'observership' is a prerequisite for any useful version of 'reality.
John Archibald Wheeler
Today I think we are beginning to suspect that man is not a tiny cog that doesn't really make much difference to the running of the huge machine, but rather that there is a much more intimate tie between man and the universe than we heretofore suspected...The physical world is in some deep sense tied to the human being.
John Archibald Wheeler
We are participators in bringing into being not only the near and here but the far away and long ago. We are in this sense, participators in bringing about something of the universe in the distant past and if we have one explanation for what's happening in the distant past why should we need more?
John Archibald Wheeler
It from bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom - at a very deep bottom, in most instances - an immaterial source and explanation; that which we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions and the resistering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and that this is a participatory universe.
John Archibald Wheeler
Of all obstacles to a thoroughly penetrating account of existence, none looms up more dismayingly than "time.” Explain time? Not without explaining existence. Explain existence? Not without explaining time. To uncover the deep and hidden connection between time and existence, to close on itself our quartet of questions, is a task for the future.
John Archibald Wheeler
I had the good fortune of having my first and only heart attack last January ... I call it good fortune because it taught me that there's a limited amount of time left and I better concentrate on one thing: How come existence? How come the quantum? Maybe those questions sound too philosophical, but maybe philosophy is too important to be left to the philosophers.
John Archibald Wheeler
John Archibald Wheeler
Photo:
Emielke,
CC BY-SA 3.0
Occupation: American Physicist
Born: July 9, 1911
Died: April 13, 2008
Quotes count: 23
Wikipedia: John Archibald Wheeler
Related authors
