Born 1927. Archaeologist, cultural anthropologist, philologist, historian of science. Professor, PhD.
Quotes:
1. Knowledge is like wine: the first cup attracts, the second inspires and the third instills frustration.
2. Whoever enters the science via the back door will slide down the front stairs.
3. If we train a donkey long enough, we get an educated donkey. If we train a scientist long enough, the result is still the same. The moral: one can be trained to be scientists, others can be trained to be donkeys.
4. The hypothesis is a beautiful girl, the theory is a mature woman. Alas, the first only rarely becomes the second by virtue of a legal marriage with an argument. More often it happens by cohabitation with authority and even more often, by violence.
5. The orthodoxy of a scientist is like the chastity of a maiden: at first it will evoke pride, later, regret and finally, laughter.
6. When a scientist is said to be in the full bloom of his creative facilities, it means that it is time for him to retire: for in his real heyday he was described a promising, and when he was promising, his audacity was repelling.
7. We learn the true value of a scientist from his obituary.
8. If a golden coin rings when struck against a copper one, it is gold that is ringing.
9. When we learn that a nice girl is a foreigner, we know that our girl is even nicer.
10. Where there's a law, there's no problem. In any arrangement of facts, look not for the law, but for a contradiction with the law. Beyond it lies the problem, and beyond the problem lies a discovery.
