After dismissing the popular notion that scientists are unable to truly appreciate beauty in nature, physicist Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988) explains what a scientist really is and does. Here are some of the most memorable lines from this beautiful mix of Feynman quotes and (mostly) BBC and NASA footage:
- People say to me, Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics? – No, I’m not. I’m just looking to find out more about the world.
- When we’re going to investigate [nature], we shouldn’t predecide what it is we’re trying to do, except to find out more about it.
- I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. (…) I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose.
- When you doubt and ask, it gets a little harder to believe.
Beauty is the first video in The Feynman Series, along with Honours and Curiosity. The sequence is a companion to The Sagan Series, which pays tribute to the late Carl Sagan. H/T Kottke
By profession, Matthias Rascher teaches English and History at a High School in northern Bavaria, Germany. In his free time he scours the web for good links and posts the best finds on Twitter.
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