Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.
Wernher Von BraunRead
The greatest gain from space travel consists in the extension of our knowledge. In a hundred years this newly won knowledge will pay huge and unexpected dividends.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Space travel enhances our understanding of the universe, leading to future benefits.
Wernher Von Braun emphasizes that the primary benefit of space travel is the expansion of human knowledge. He predicts that this knowledge, although it may not provide immediate rewards, will yield significant and surprising benefits for humanity in the future, highlighting the long-term value of scientific exploration and discovery.
Themes
Space TravelKnowledgeScienceDiscoveryFuture Benefits
In practice
Example use cases
During a keynote speech about innovation, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of scientific exploration.
More from Wernher Von Braun
All quotes βI find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.
Wernher Von BraunRead
Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
Wernher Von BraunRead
I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.
Wernher Von BraunRead
It will free man from the remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet.
Wernher Von BraunRead
We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
Wernher Von BraunRead
Similar quotes
Science without conscience is the death of the soul.
Francois RabelaisRead
False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness.
Charles DarwinRead
Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that this is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not bring us any closer to the secrets of the "Old One." I, at any rate, am convinced that He is not playing at dice.
Albert EinsteinRead
A science is said to be useful if its development tends to accentuate the existing inequalities in the distribution of wealth, or more directly promotes the destruction of human life.
G. H. HardyRead
As a physicist, I've always found cosmology to be a rational elixir; it distances me from ordinary concerns.
Lawrence M. KraussRead
My roots, in college, were in behavior in the context of evolution.
Robert SapolskyRead