“Only an idiot could believe that scientific truth needs martyrdom”

— David Hilbert

Hilbert (2nd edition, 1996) by Constance Reid, p. 92
Context: But he (Galileo) was not an idiot,... Only an idiot could believe that scientific truth needs martyrdom — that may be necessary in religion, but scientific results prove themselves in time.

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David Hilbert 30

German prominent mathematician 1862–1943

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