Source: A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers (1859), p. 31
Context: Hypothesis Of Molecular Vortices. In thermodynamics as well as in other branches of molecular physics, the laws of phenomena have to a certain extent been anticipated, and their investigation facilitated, by the aid of hypotheses as to occult molecular structures and motions with which such phenomena are assumed to be connected. The hypothesis which has answered that purpose in the case of thermodynamics, is called that of "molecular vortices," or otherwise, the "centrifugal theory of elasticity. (On this subject, see the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 1849; Edinburgh Transactions, vol. xx.; and Philosophical Magazine, passim, especially for December, 1851, and November and December, 1855.)
“The beauty of physics lies in the extent to which seemingly complex and unrelated phenomena can be explained and correlated through a high level of abstraction by a set of laws which are amazing in their simplicity.”
in Electromagnetism and Its Relation to Relativity, chapter 3 of his book [Principles of electrodynamics, Courier Dover Publications, 1987, 0486654931, 105]
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Melvin Schwartz 1
American experimental physicist 1932–2006Related quotes
Source: In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action, (2013), p. 221
Source: Just a Theory: Exploring the Nature of Science (2005), Chapter 2, “Just a Theory: What Scientists Do” (p. 24)
Source: "Outlines of the Science of Energetics," (1855), p. 121; Second paragraph
“Simplicity is the touchstone in finding new physical laws.”
in Does Physical Reality Go Beyond? http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Does-Physical-Reality-Go-Beyond-Kip-Thorne-/106, Closer to Truth TV series.
Context: Simplicity is the touchstone in finding new physical laws. … If it's elegant, then it's a rough rule of thumb: you're on the right track.
Source: The Fractalist (2012), Ch. 29, p. 299
"Holmes-Pollock Letters : The Correspondence of Mr. Justice Holmes and Sir Frederick Pollock, 1874-1932" (2nd ed., 1961), p. 109.
Often quoted as "I wouldn't give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity" and attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr..
1930s
Philosophy : the basics (Fifth Edition, 2013), Introduction
Source: "Outlines of the Science of Energetics," (1855), p. 121; Lead paragraph: Section "What Constitutes A Physical Theory"