Brian Hayes (scientist) Quotes

Brian Hayes is an American scientist, columnist and author.

He is a senior writer and regular columnist for the magazine American Scientist, and was editor in chief for the magazine from 1990 to 1992. He has also edited and written columns for Scientific American, as well as writing for Computer Language and The Sciences. He won a National Magazine Award for his essay "Clock of Ages" in 2000.He is the author of three books:



Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape .

Group Theory in the Bedroom, and Other Mathematical Diversions .

Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations Wikipedia  

✵ 1900
Brian Hayes (scientist): 20   quotes 0   likes

Famous Brian Hayes (scientist) Quotes

“Compared with the elegant inventions of the theorists, nature's code seemed a bit of a kludge.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 4, Inventing The Genetic Code, p. 66

“How can we measure the effects if we can't even count the dead to the nearest million?”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 5, Statistics Of Deadly Quarrels, p. 105

“It's all done with gears. Also pinions, snails, arbors; pawls and ratchets; and cam followers; cables, levers, bell cranks, and pivots.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 1, Clock Of Ages, p. 7

Brian Hayes (scientist) Quotes

“The whirling gears of progress have put the gear makers out of work.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 7, On The Teeth Of Wheels, p. 139

“If saving human lives is the great desideratum, then there is more to be gained by the prevention of drowning, and auto wrecks than by the abolition of war.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 5, Statistics Of Deadly Quarrels, p. 89

“I'm not a mathematician, but I've been hanging around with some of them long enough to know how the game is played.”

Variant: I'm not a gambling person, but I've been around long enough and I know how to play it.
Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 12, Group Theory In The Bedroom, p. 232

“The fact is, winding and dusting and fixing somebody else's clock is boring.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 1, Clock Of Ages, p. 18

“After a few more centuries, perhaps the poorest billion will even be able to afford the $10.00 buffet.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 3, Follow The Money, p. 61

“Fretting about a dearth of randomness seems like worrying that humanity might use up its last reserves of ignorance.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 2, Random Resources, p. 23

“Empires come and go; so do ideologies and even religions, but war marches on through it all.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 5, Statistics Of Deadly Quarrels, p. 103

“A big advantage of the serial-number approach to identity is that things stay the same even as they change.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 11, Identity Crisis, p. 213

“A retired physicist reading the Encyclopedia Britannica can do just so much toward securing world peace.”

Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 5, Statistics Of Deadly Quarrels, p. 101 (On: Lewis Fry Richardson)

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