Computer science is no
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. Edsger Dijkstra
Telescopes
There is a field
There is a field where all wonderful perfections of microscope and telescope fail, all exquisite niceties of weights and measures, as well as that which is behind them, the keen and driving power of the mind. No facts however indubitably detected, no effort of reason however magnificently maintained, can prove that Bach’s music is beautiful. … Read more
Were the succession of
Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us an uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy-since there could be absolutely no point, in all that background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could … Read more
Everything is stuck together.
Everything is stuck together. People are stuck together. They can’t change. Ideas are stuck together – they’re irrevocable. We think that the end of the universe is as far as the telescope can see. Frederick Lenz
We do a lot
We do a lot of looking: we look through lenses, telescopes, television tubes… Our looking is perfected every day, but we see less and less. Frederick Franck
A telescope will magnify
A telescope will magnify a star a thousand times, but a good press agent can do even better. Fred Allen
On certain occasions, the
On certain occasions, the eyes of the mind can supply the want of the most powerful telescopes, and lead to astronomical discoveries of the highest importance. Francois Arago
What are they doing,
What are they doing, examining last month’s costs with a microscope when they should be surveying the horizon with a telescope? Francis Arthur Freeth
As we begin the
As we begin the 21st century, the Hubble space telescope is providing us with information about as yet uncharted regions of the universe and the promise that we may learn something about the origin of the cosmos. This same spirit of adventure is also being directed to the most complex structure that exists in the … Read more
When we look at
When we look at the universe, what we see by eye or with our telescopes is only five percent of the universe. The rest, 95 percent is dark. Dark meaning, first of all, not visible to our instrument. Second, dark also indicates our ignorance. We don’t know what’s the composition of this part of the … Read more