We always have a key phrase about the scientist we most admire in each area, what is yours?
My thesis adviser told me : "In two years of hard work, anyone can be expert in any field".
Good phrase, Dr. Zin. Hard work is the secret of every success.
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” ~ Isaac Asimov
Great Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest visionaries.
Another visionary who has a legal phrase is Tesla, "Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, the future, for which I really worked, is mine. "
Tesla for me was one of the most important scientists and influencers.
I like Fernando Pessoa's phrase. It does not have a translation with the same meaning in English.
"Em tudo quanto faças sê só tu,
Em tudo quanto faças sê tu todo."
This is not exactly a phrase, but it is my favorite quote:
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.” - Galileo
History of Science, specially History of Mathematics and mathematicians, is a subject that helps you to find inspiration for new discoveries and with which you learn lots about mathematics. The inspiring quotations of several scientists are part of that history. For instance, C. F. Gauss quoted:
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, not being but the act of becoming, which grants the greatest enjoyment."
Benjamin Franklin quoted:
"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."
Andrew Odlyzko quoted:
"Analytic Methods are extremely powerful and when they apply, they often yield estimates of unparalleled precision."
I am reading a very influential work: "Analytic Combinatorics" by Flajolet and Sedgewick. It is considered the first book on the relatively recent field created in mathematical sciences called "Analytic Combinatorics." Throughout the book there are many citations. I am really interested in History of Mathematics and for every cited author, who is usually a very influential mathematician; I look for his historical notes online. One of them was Abraham de Moivre, who was French and had to flee the country to London for religion reasons. He was unable to find a full time job. So he had to earn a living by walking many hours across the city to visit the students he was able to find for tutoring. During his breaks between lessons, he was reading Newton's Principia. He wanted to know all the details of Newton's influential work, so he tore the pages of the book and every single time he went for tutoring, he put some of the pages in his pocket until he was able to read it completely. I had to leave my home country and immigrate to Canada. I also travel across the Greater Toronto Area doing tutoring to earn a living. Between my breaks, I read "Analytic Combinatorics" which I find extremely interesting. The other day reading the book while I was on one of my breaks, I accidentally tore the cover of the book and it fell apart. Then immediately de Moivre came to my mind. I do not consider myself an influential mathematician as de Moivre was. But it kept me thinking that sometimes history can repeat itself in very strange ways.
There is a couple of interesting articles that describe de Moivre's contributions to Science.
1.Article Abraham de Moivre, The doctrine of chances (1718, 1738, 1756)
2.Article Der Mathematiker Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754)
The Uniformitarianism by James Hutton
"The Present Is the Key to the Past"
Best Regards João Lucas de Souza Silva
"As long as doctors continue to see diseases and forget the sick as a biological unit, psychology and social, we will be simple shoemakers, remendones of the human personality", Ramon Carrillo
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