Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
28.2. CONFESSION 125<br />
source <strong>of</strong> this kind <strong>of</strong> logic lies in excessive confidence in the so-called<br />
laws <strong>of</strong> thought.<br />
• That is is necessary to the rigor <strong>of</strong> the pro<strong>of</strong> to specify this assumption<br />
(molecular disorder) in advance...Because the impossibility <strong>of</strong> calculating<br />
the positions <strong>of</strong> all the molecules at each time, as the astronomers<br />
calculates the positions <strong>of</strong> all the planets, it would be impossible without<br />
this assumption (molecular disorder) to prove the theorems <strong>of</strong> gas<br />
theory.<br />
• One is almost tempted to assert that quite apart from its intellectual<br />
mission, theory is the most practical thing conceivable, the quintessence<br />
<strong>of</strong> practice as it were, since the precision <strong>of</strong> its conclusions cannot be<br />
reached by any routine <strong>of</strong> estimating or trial <strong>and</strong> error; although given<br />
the hidden ways <strong>of</strong> theory, this will hold only for those who walk them<br />
with complete confidence....besides, a man with a new idea is a crank<br />
until he succeeds...<br />
• Will the mechanist view <strong>of</strong> nature one day win the decisive battle for<br />
the discovery <strong>of</strong> the luminous aether?<br />
• It is clear that the various gas molecules will go through all possible<br />
states <strong>of</strong> motion<br />
• So far I have however neglected almost completely many broad <strong>and</strong> significant<br />
chapters os mathematical physics....I realize that it would strain<br />
my eyes too much... (turning down a job <strong>of</strong>fer on Berlin)<br />
• There is a need for making the utmost use <strong>of</strong> what powers <strong>of</strong> perception<br />
we possess, <strong>and</strong> since the eye allows us to take in the greatest store<br />
<strong>of</strong> facts at once, this givs rise to the need to represent the results <strong>of</strong><br />
calculations <strong>and</strong> not only for the imagination but visibly for the eye a<br />
palpably for the h<strong>and</strong>, with cardboard <strong>and</strong> plaster.<br />
• ...were more in tune with the spirits <strong>of</strong> science than the old hypotheses,<br />
besides being more convenient for the scientist himself. For the old<br />
hypotheses cold be upheld only so long everything went well; but now<br />
the occasional lack <strong>of</strong> agreement was no longer harmful, for one cannot<br />
reproach a mere analogy for being lame in some respects...In the end,
Change language