Ernest Rutherford Quotes

Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."

All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.

A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.

We haven't got the money, so we've got to think.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.

If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.

Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.

It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.

Every good laboratory consists of first rate men working in great harmony to insure the progress of science; but down at the end of the hall is an unsociable, wrong-headed fellow working on unprofitable lines, and in his hands lies the hope of discovery.

The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't.

That which is not measurable is not science. That which is not physics is stamp collecting.

We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works.

The more physics you have the less engineering you need.

An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.

Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.

Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.

Now I know what the atom looks like.

I congratulate you both on a fine piece of work which I am sure will ultimately prove of importance. I am personally very much interested in your results... In the past I have tried a number of experiments... but without any success.

I must confess it was very unexpected and I am very startled at my metamorphosis into a chemist.

The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.

It is essential for men of science to take an interest in the administration of their own affairs or else the professional civil servant will step in - and then the Lord help you.

I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.

You know, I am sorry for the poor fellows that haven't got labs to work in.

I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)