“Numbers instill a feeling for the lie of the land, and furnish grist for the mathematical mill that is the physicist's principal tool.”

— Hans Christian von Baeyer

Source: Information, The New Language of Science (2003), Chapter 6, The Book of Life, Genetic information, p. 48

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 "Numbers instill a feeling for the lie of the land, and furnish grist for the mathematical mill that is the physicist's …" by Hans Christian von Baeyer?

Hans Christian von Baeyer 25

American physicist 1938

Related quotes

“Everything is grist for anthropology's mill.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

As quoted in Margaret Mead: A Life (1984) by Jane Howard, Ch. 21, p. 319
1980s

“Softly! Softly! I want none but the judges to hear me. The Jews have already gotten me into a fine mess, as they have many other gentleman. I have no desire to furnish further grist for their mills.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Oration in Defense of Flaccus. See Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe https://books.google.com.br/books?id=wefkDwAAQBAJ&pg=108 by Robert Orlando, p. 108.

“The mill is a tool for the wind
the mill is like a human being
that escapes”

Karel Appel (1921–2006) Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet

ATV, 47; p. 183
Karel Appel, a gesture of colour' (1992/2009)

“If on the web you search only for frivolous or sensational news (which are often false and slanderous), you will bring grist to the mill of those who maintain that the era of the web is by no means the “era of knowledge.””

Fausto Cercignani (1941) Italian scholar, essayist and poet

Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni

“Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

The Scientific Outlook (1931)
1930s
Context: Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say.

“The most important tool of the theoretical physicist is his wastebasket.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Told by P. Morrison
Attributed in posthumous publications, Albert Einstein: A guide for the perplexed (1979)

“Those who really solve mathematical puzzles are the physicists.”

Carlo Beenakker (1960) Dutch physicist

In Interview with Professor Carlo Beenakker. Interviewers: Ramy El-Dardiry and Roderick Knuiman (February 1, 2006).
Context: … mathematicians are much more concerned for example with the structure behind something or with the whole edifice. Mathematicians are not really puzzlers. Those who really solve mathematical puzzles are the physicists. If you like to solve mathematical puzzles, you should not study mathematics but physics!