Ernest Rutherford Quotes
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The year 1896 ... marked the beginning of what has been aptly termed the heroic age of Physical Science. Never before in the history of physics has there been witnessed such a period of intense activity when discoveries of fundamental importance have followed one another with such bewildering rapidity.
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All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.
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If your result needs a statistician then you should design a better experiment.
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The great object is to find the theory of the matter of X-rays before anyone else, for nearly every professor in Europe is now on the warpath.
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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.
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Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."
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Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.
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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.
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All scientific men will be delighted to extend their warmest congratulations to Tesla and to express their appreciation of his great contributions to science.
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All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
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The more physics you have the less engineering you need.
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I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies.
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Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.
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We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works.