Arthur Eddington Quotes about Math

All Arthur Eddington Quotes Giving Knowledge Learning Math quotes Mathematics Nature Physics Science Writing

We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'.

We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'.

Arthur Eddington

Learning, Math, Thinking

"A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations" by Alan L. Mackay, (p. 79), 1991.

It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset.

Arthur Eddington

Math, Perfect, Impossible

Arthur Eddington (2012). “New Pathways in Science: Messenger Lectures (1934)”, p.105, Cambridge University Press

To the pure geometer the radius of curvature is an incidental characteristic - like the grin of the Cheshire cat. To the physicist it is an indispensable characteristic. It would be going too far to say that to the physicist the cat is merely incidental to the grin. Physics is concerned with interrelatedness such as the interrelatedness of cats and grins. In this case the "cat without a grin" and the "grin without a cat" are equally set aside as purely mathematical phantasies.

Arthur Eddington

Cat, Math, Would Be

Arthur Eddington (1933). “The Expanding Universe: Astronomy's 'Great Debate', 1900-1931”, p.103, Cambridge University Press