In fact, death seems to have been a rather late invention in evolution. One can go a long way in evolution before encountering an authentic corpse.
George WaldRead
I tell my students to try to know molecules, so well that when they have some question involving molecules, they can ask themselves, What would I do if I were that molecule?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding molecules deeply can enhance problem-solving in science.
George Wald emphasizes the importance of truly comprehending complex subjects, like molecules, to improve one's ability to tackle scientific questions. By encouraging students to empathize with the molecules they study, he advocates for a deeper engagement with the material, fostering critical thinking and creativity in scientific inquiry.
Themes
MoleculesEducationUnderstandingScienceProblem-Solving
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on chemistry, to illustrate the importance of deep understanding, one might quote Wald's insight.
More from George Wald
All quotes →I have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company. I tell my students to try to know molecules, so well that when they have some question involving molecules, they can ask themselves, What would I do if I were that molecule? I tell them, Try to feel like a molecule; and if you work hard, who knows? Some day you may get to feel like a big molecule!
George WaldRead
Our challenge is to give what account we can of what becomes of life in the solar system, this corner of the universe that is our home; and, most of all, what becomes of men-all men, of all nations, colors, and creeds. This has become one world, a world for all men. It is only such a world that can now offer us life, and the chance to go on.
George WaldRead
Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship.
George WaldRead
Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror.
George WaldRead
I think if a physician wrote on a death certificate that old age was the cause of death, he'd be thrown out of the union. There is always some final event, some failure of an organ, some last attack of pneumonia, that finishes off a life. No one dies of old age.
George WaldRead
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