Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Quoted in "Leaping the Abyss" (April 2002) by Gregory Benford, in Reason Magazine http://reason.com/archives/2002/04/01/leaping-the-abyss/4
“If we make this readjustment to view Homo sapiens as an ultimate in oddball rarity, and life at bacterial grade as the common expression of a universal phenomenon, then we could finally ask the truly fundamental question raised by the prospect of Martian fossils. If life originates as a general property of the material universe under certain conditions (probably often realized), then how much can the basic structure and constitution of life vary from place to independent place?”
"War of the Worldviews", p. 352
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (1998)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "If we make this readjustment to view Homo sapiens as an ultimate in oddball rarity, and life at bacterial grade as the …" by Stephen Jay Gould?
Stephen Jay Gould274
American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002Related quotes
“We are all in flight from the real reality. That is the basic definition of Homo Sapiens.”
John Fowles book The French Lieutenant's Woman
Source: The French Lieutenant's Woman
Albert L. Lehninger (1917–1986) American biochemist
Principles of Biochemistry, Ch. 1 : The Foundations of Biochemistry
“The most important question a person can ask is, "Is the Universe a friendly place?”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba
University of Havana address (2005)
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
"Acquisition and use of language"
Quotes 2000s, 2007-09, (3rd ed., 2009)
“Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe.”
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) Renaissance mathematician, Polish astronomer, physician
As quoted in The Copernican Revolution : Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought (1957) by Thomas S. Kuhn
Context: Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, "with both eyes open."
“Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.”
James Jeans book The Mysterious Universe
Source: The Mysterious Universe (1930), p. 19, Pelican Books 1938 reprint of 1931 2nd ed.
Umberto Eco book Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
Six Walks in the Fictional Woods (1994) Chapter Six: "Fictional Protocols"