The scientist finds his reward in what Henri Poincare calls the joy of comprehension, and not in the possibility of application to which any discovery may lead.
Interpretation
Einstein emphasizes the intrinsic joy that scientists experience while understanding the world, rather than focusing solely on practical applications of their discoveries.
In this quote, Albert Einstein highlights the idea that the true satisfaction of a scientist comes from the joy and excitement of understanding the complexities of the universe. He references Henri Poincare's notion that the pleasure derived from the process of comprehension itself is more rewarding than the potential utilities that may arise from scientific discoveries. This perspective encourages a deeper appreciation for the pursuit of knowledge and the intellectual challenges that drive scientific inquiry.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of research and development, one could quote Einstein to emphasize the value of curiosity in science.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
Everybody who's a physician, who makes vaccines, who wants to find the cure for cancer. Everybody who wants to do any medical good for humankind got the passion for that before he or she was 10.
One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand. Then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.
Human exploration is something that's been going on for thousands of years, and the models that worked 500 years ago are likely to work again today.
From the described experiment it is clear that the mere act of eating, the food even not reaching the stomach, determines the stimulation of the gastric glands.
There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.
A great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation. I think this affected many of the scientists in a subtle sense, and it diminished their desire to continue to work on the bomb.
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