Those Who Say That The Study Of

The Belief In A Single Truth Is The Root Cause For All Evil In The World.

If Alpha [the Fine-structure Constant] Were Bigger Than It Really Is, We Should Not Be Able To Distinguish Matter From Ether [the Vacuum, Nothingness], And Our Task To Disentangle The Natural Laws Would Be Hopelessly Difficult. The Fact However That Alpha Has Just Its Value 1/137 Is Certainly No Chance But Itself A Law Of Nature. It Is Clear That The Explanation Of This Number Must Be The Central Problem Of Natural Philosophy.

It Is A Fascinating Fact That Father And Son Have Given The Most Striking Evidence For The Apparently Contradictory Properties Of The Electron: The Father Proving Its Character As A Particle, The Son Its Character As A Wave... Thomson Was Extremely Proud Of His Son's Success And Tried To Assimilate The New Results Into His Old Convictions.

During My Span Of Life Science Has Become A Matter Of Public Concern And The L'art Pour L'art Standpoint Of My Youth Is Now Obsolete. Science Has Become An Integral And Most Important Part Of Our Civilization, And Scientific Work Means Contributing To Its Development. Science In Our Technical Age Has Social, Economic, And Political Functions, And However Remote One's Own Work Is From Technical Application It Is A Link In The Chain Of Actions And Decisions Which Determine The Fate Of The Human Race. I Realized This Aspect Of Science In Its Full Impact Only After Hiroshima.

Intellect Distinguishes Between The Possible And The Impossible; Reason Distinguishes Between The Sensible And The Senseless. Even The Possible Can Be Senseless.