“The method of guessing the equation seems to be a pretty effective way of guessing new laws”

— Richard Feynman, book The Character of Physical Law

The Character of Physical Law (1965)
Context: …Dirac discovered the correct laws for relativity quantum mechanics simply by guessing the equation. The method of guessing the equation seems to be a pretty effective way of guessing new laws. This shows again that mathematics is a deep way of expressing nature, and any attempt to express nature in philosophical principles, or in seat-of-the-pants mechanical feelings, is not an efficient way.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The method of guessing the equation seems to be a pretty effective way of guessing new laws" by Richard Feynman?

Richard Feynman181

American theoretical physicist 1918–1988

Related quotes

“I guess I'm pretty emotional.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“If you make the same guess often enough it ceases to be a guess and becomes a Scientific Fact. This is the inductive method.”

Clive Staples Lewis book The Pilgrim's Regress

Pilgrim’s Regress 22
The Pilgrim's Regress (1933)

“That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

“Funny sort of science! I guess they were pretty ignorant in those days.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

“Don’t go running down our grandfathers. If it weren’t for them, you and I would be squatting in a cave, scratching fleas. No, Bub, they were pretty sharp; they just didn’t have all the facts. We’ve got more facts, but that doesn’t make us smarter.”
A Tenderfoot in Space (p. 691)
Short fiction, Off the Main Sequence (2005)

“In general, we look for a new law by the following process: First we guess it. Then we – now don't laugh, that's really true. Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what, if this is right, if this law that we guessed is right, to see what it would imply. And then we compare the computation results to nature, or we say compare to experiment or experience, compare it directly with observations to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn't make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn't make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. That's all there is to it.”

Richard Feynman book The Character of Physical Law

same passage in transcript: video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2NnquxdWFk&t=16m46s <br class="br">The Character of Physical Law (1965) <br class="br">Variant: In general we look for a new law by the following process. First we guess it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law that we guessed is right. Then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience, compare it directly with observation, to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. That is all there is to it.