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You Know, There Was A Time, Just Before I Started To Study Physical Science, When Astronomers Thought That Systems Such As We Have Here In The Solar System Required A Rare Triple Collision Of Stars

-Murray Gell-Mann

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You Know, There Was

Murray Gell-Mann

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You Know, There Was A Time, Just Before I Started To Study Physical Science, When Astronomers Thought That Systems Such As We Have Here In The Solar System Required A Rare Triple Collision Of Stars

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While Many Questions About Quantum Mechanics Are Still Not Fully Resolved, There Is No Point In Introducing Needless Mystification Where In Fact No Problem Exists. Yet A Great Deal Of Recent Writing About Quantum Mechanics Has Done Just That.

I Think Also Of My Colleagues In Elementary Particle Theory In Many Lands, And Feel That In Some Measure I Am Here As A Representative Of Our Small, Informal, International Fraternity.

For Me, The Study Of These Laws Is Inseparable From A Love Of Nature In All Its Manifestations. The Beauty Of The Basic Laws Of Natural Science, As Revealed In The Study Of Particles And Of The Cosmos, Is Allied To The Litheness Of A Merganser Diving In A Pure Swedish Lake, Or The Grace Of A Dolphin Leaving Shining Trails At Night In The Gulf Of California.

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What Is Especially Striking And Remarkable Is That In Fundamental Physics, A Beautiful Or Elegant Theory Is More Likely To Be Right Than A Theory That Is Inelegant. A Theory Appears To Be Beautiful Or Elegant (or Simple, If You Prefer) When It Can Be Expressed Concisely In Terms Of Mathematics We Already Have. Symmetry Exhibits The Simplicity. The Foundamental Law Is Such That The Different Skins Of The Onion Resemble One Another And Therefore The Math For One Skin Allows You To Express Beautifully And Simply The Phenomenon Of The Next Skin.

What Is Especially Striking And Remarkable Is That In Fundamental Physics A Beautiful Or Elegant Theory Is More Likely To Be Right Than A Theory That Is Inelegant.

You Know, There Was A Time, Just Before I Started To Study Physical Science, When Astronomers Thought That Systems Such As We Have Here In The Solar System Required A Rare Triple Collision Of Stars

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Our Planet Doesn't Seem To Be The Result Of Anything Very Special

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I Am Frequently Astonished That It So Often Results In Correct Predictions Of Experimental Results.

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