“There are three stages in scientific discovery. First, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally they credit the wrong person.”
Source: A Short History of Nearly Everything
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Bill Bryson 112
American author 1951Related quotes
As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) edited by Alan L. Mackay, ( p. 2 http://books.google.com/books?id=KwESE88CGa8C&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=every+scientific+truth+goes+through+three+stages+first+people+say+it+conflicts+with+the+bible+next+they+say+it+had+been+discovered+before+lastly+they+say+they+always+believed+in+it&source=web&ots=DKSjGVklFG&sig=TGpJ6LSI9CE4s7Nu8wUiGAq3rgI)
“Until work has reached its previous stage nympharium privileges are denied to all.”
Source: Dying Earth (1950-1984), The Eyes of the Overworld (1966), Chapter 4, "The Sorcerer Pharesm"
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Climate Change Deniers from ALL IN with Chris Hayes, MSNBC and also in Bill Maher Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJhbQIlu4mk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klgp_qDiRhQ
2010s
Variant: It has been said that every great emerging scientific truth goes to three phases: First people say: «It can't be true». Second they say: «It conflicts with the bible.» Third they say: «It's true all along.»
“The measurement of time was the first example of a scientific discovery changing the technology.”
Source: The Best of All Possible Worlds (2006), Chapter 8, The End of Nature, p. 150.
As quoted in letter to the citizens of the twelfth congressional district (29 June 1839), The Hingham Patriot, MA. As quoted in Thomas Huges Rare and Early Newspaper catalog, No. 141
Letter to the 12th Congressional District (1839)
“That is a final fact of my inner consciousness, and for no religion could I deny its truth.”
Source: The Importance of Living (1937), p. 407
Context: I feel, like all modern Americans, no consciousness of sin and simply do not believe in it. All I know is that if God loves me only half as much as my mother does, he will not send me to Hell. That is a final fact of my inner consciousness, and for no religion could I deny its truth.
Source: A General View of Positivism (1848, 1856), p. 104