A discovery is like falling in love and reaching the top of a mountain after a hard climb all in one, an ecstasy not induced by drugs but by the revelation of a face of nature that no one has seen before and that often turns out to be more subtle and wonderful than anyone had imagined.
Interpretation
Discovery combines exhilaration and profound realization, akin to love and achieving a major life goal.
This quote by Max Perutz illustrates the deep emotional and intellectual joy that comes with making a discovery, comparing it to falling in love and achieving a challenging goal. It emphasizes that true revelations provide a sense of ecstasy and wonder that surpasses anything synthetic, highlighting the beauty and subtlety found in nature's truths that were previously unseen and often beyond our imagination.
In practice
This quote can be used in a scientific conference to emphasize the joy of new findings.
New knowledge has led to the recognition in the theory of evolution of more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory.
It's not unexpected that shooting massive amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into the earth to shatter shale and release natural gas might shake things up. But earthquakes aren't the worst problem with fracking.
Every aspect of the world today - even politics and international relations - is affected by chemistry.
One of the liberating effects of science fiction when I was a teenager was precisely its ability to tune me into all sorts of strange data and make me realize that I wasn’t as totally isolated in perceiving the world as being monstrous and crazy
I am an enthusiast, but not a crank in the sense that I have some pet theories as to the proper construction of a flying machine. I wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then, if possible, add my mite to help on the future worker who will attain final success.
Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.
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