Ernest Rutherford Quotes
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When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.
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From the results so far obtained it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the long-range atoms arising from collision of alpha particles with nitrogen are not nitrogen atoms but probably atoms of hydrogen, or atoms of mass 2. If this be the case, we must conclude that the nitrogen atom is disintegrated under the intense forces developed in a close collision with a swift alpha particle, and that the hydrogen atom which is liberated formed a constituent part of the nitrogen nucleus.
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Don't let me catch anyone talking about the Universe in my department.
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All scientific men will be delighted to extend their warmest congratulations to Tesla and to express their appreciation of his great contributions to science.
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Every good laboratory consists of first rate men working in great harmony to insure the progress of science; but down at the end of the hall is an unsociable, wrong-headed fellow working on unprofitable lines, and in his hands lies the hope of discovery.
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An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.
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We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works.
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All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
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Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."
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The more physics you have the less engineering you need.
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Splitting the atom is like trying to shoot a gnat in the Albert Hall at night and using ten million rounds of ammunition on the off chance of getting it. That should convince you that the atom will always be a sink of energy and never a reservoir of energy.
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I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies.
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That which is not measurable is not science. That which is not physics is stamp collecting.
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[From uranium] there are present at least two distinct types of radiation one that is very readily absorbed, which will be termed for convenience the α radiation, and the other of a more penetrative character, which will be termed the β radiation.
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The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't.
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A good scientific theory should be explicable to a barmaid.
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All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.
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The year 1896 ... marked the beginning of what has been aptly termed the heroic age of Physical Science. Never before in the history of physics has there been witnessed such a period of intense activity when discoveries of fundamental importance have followed one another with such bewildering rapidity.
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If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.
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Now I know what the atom looks like.
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Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.
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The greatest contributor to the feeling of tension and fear of war arose from the power of the bombing aeroplane. If all nations would consent to abolish air bombardment . . . that would mean the greatest possible release from fear.
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I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.
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If your result needs a statistician then you should design a better experiment.
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I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)
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Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.
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I congratulate you both on a fine piece of work which I am sure will ultimately prove of importance. I am personally very much interested in your results... In the past I have tried a number of experiments... but without any success.
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If, as I have reason to believe, I have disintegrated the nucleus of the atom, this is of greater significance than the war.
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Radioactivity is shown to be accompanied by chemical changes in which new types of matter are being continually produced. .... The conclusion is drawn that these chemical changes must be sub-atomic in character.
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You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10-12 to 1.
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