John Ziman quotes
The communication of modern science to the ordinary citizen, necessary, important, desirable as it is, cannot be considered an easy task. The prime obstacle is lack of education. ... There is also the difficulty of making scientific discoveries interesting and exciting without completely degrading them intellectually. ... It is a weakness of modern science that the scientist shrinks from this sort of publicity, and thus gives an impression of arrogant mystagoguery.
John Ziman
Even in physics, there is no infallible procedure for generating reliable knowledge. The calm order and perfection of well-established theories, accredited by innumerable items of evidence from a thousand different hands, eyes and brains, is not characteristic of the front-line of research, where controversy, conjecture, contradiction and confusion are rife. The physics of undergraduate text-books is 90% true; the contents of the primary research journals of physics is 90% false. The scientific system is as much involved in distilling the former out of the latter as it is in creating and transferring more and more bits of data and items of 'information'.
John Ziman
John Ziman
Occupation: PhysicistBorn: May 16, 1925
Died: January 2, 2005
Quotes count: 5
Wikipedia: John Ziman
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