Wilczek Quotes & Sayings

I believe that everything you've said is not even wrong. — Frank Wilczek

We can roll up two-dimensional graphene to make one-dimensional tubes, the so-called nanotubes. This can be done in many ways, giving nanotubes with different radii and pitches (see plate FF). Nanotubes that differ only slightly in geometry can have radically different physical properties. It is a triumph of quantum theory that these delicate properties can be predicted unambiguously, purely through calculation, and that they agree with experimental measurements. — Frank Wilczek

For us, the great conclusion is this: all the colors can be obtained from any one of them, by motion, or, as we say, by making Galilean transformations. Because Galilean transformations are symmetries of the laws of Nature, any color is fully equivalent to any other. They all emerge as different views of the same thing, seen from different but equally valid perspectives. — Frank Wilczek

Theorists write all the popular books on science: Heinz Pagels, Frank Wilczek, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, et al. And why not? They have all that spare time. — Leon M. Lederman

Get ready, darling. This may spin your head. — Krista Ritchie

The human mind is our ultimate sense organ. Mind has discovered that there are invisible infinities hidden in light. Our perception of color projects the doubly infinite-dimensional space of physical color onto the three-dimensional wall of our inner Cave. — Frank Wilczek

As Nobel laureate physicist Frank Wilczek has put it, "The answer to the ancient question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that 'nothing' is unstable." ... In short, the natural state of affairs is something rather than nothing. An empty universe requires supernatural intervention
not a full one. Only by the constant action of an agent outside the universe, such as God, could a state of nothingness be maintained. The fact that we have something is just what we would expect if there is no God. — Victor J. Stenger

Yet it is beautiful to discover that there's another chapter to the story, where we discover deep unity beneath, and supporting, the diversity of appearance. All colors are one thing, seen in different states of motion. That is science's brilliantly poetic answer to Keats's complaint that science "unweaves a rainbow. — Frank Wilczek

I'm convinced that art and science activate the same parts of the brain. — Frank Wilczek

The main point is that quantum reality is REALLY, REALLY BIG. We'll build up a toy model that describes social life among the spins of just five particles, and we'll discover that it fills out a space of thirty-two dimensions. — Frank Wilczek

May God teach us to enjoy serving others as a sign of our love for Him. - Pat Stockett Johnston - — Gary Chapman

The legendary Danish physicist Niels Bohr distinguished two kinds of truths. An ordinary truth is a statement whose opposite is a falsehood. A profound truth is a statement whose opposite is also a profound truth. — Frank Wilczek

In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you. — Frank Wilczek

Our deepest description of physical reality, in quantum theory and in the four Core Theories of forces (gravitation, electromagnetism, strong and weak forces), bring in concepts that call to mind yin and yang. Niels Bohr, an influential founder of quantum theory, saw strong parallels between his concept of complementarity and the unified duality of yin-yang. He designed a coat of arms for himself, in which the yin-yang figures centrally (see figure 42, page 324). Our Core Theories center on the interplay between lightlike space filling fluids (yang) and substances (yin) they both direct and respond to. — Frank Wilczek

In short: the space of color information is infinite-dimensional, but we perceive, as color, only a three-dimensional surface, onto which those infinite dimensions project. — Frank Wilczek

Many of my heroes, like Galileo, Maxwell, Newton and, less explicitly, Einstein thought what they were doing was finding out what God is. All of them had this inspiration that if you want to find out what God is, you have to look at his work. — Frank Wilczek

He looked her over with blatant intent, his gaze containing an edge that had her swallowing hard before she could stop herself. "Do you know what I think?" he said at last.
"I live to hear such things."
He stepped forward, only a handful of steps, but enough that the full force of his gaze grabbed and held held hers, enough that she could almost believe she could fell his breath, hear the beat of his heart under his chest. "I think I am done with anticipation. — Danielle Monsch

Dynamical beauty transcends specific objects and phenomena, and invites us to imagine the expanse of possibilities. For example, the sizes and shapes of actual planetary orbits are not simple. They are neither the (compounded) circles of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Nicolaus Copernicus, nor even the more nearly accurate ellipses of Kepler, but rather curves that must be calculated numerically, as functions of time, evolving in complicated ways that depend on the positions and masses of the Sun and the other planets. There is great beauty and simplicity here, but it is only fully evident when we understand the deep design. The appearance of particular objects does not exhaust the beauty of the laws. — Frank Wilczek

Transient and Eternal
The state of the world is in flux, and every object within it is subject to change.
Concepts live outside of time and, because All Things Are Number, liberate us from it. — Frank Wilczek

QED [quantum electrodynamics] reduces ... "all of chemistry and most of physics," to one basic interaction, the fundamental coupling of a photon to electric charge. The strength of this coupling remains, however, as a pure number, the so-called fine-structure constant, which is a parameter of QED that QED itself is powerless to predict. — Frank Wilczek

Despite its overwhelming virtues, the Core Theory is imperfect. Indeed, precisely because it is such a faithful description of reality, we must, in pursuit of our Question, hold it to the highest esthetic standards. So scrutinized, the Core Theory reveals flaws. Its equations are lopsided, and they contain several loosely connected pieces. Furthermore, the Core Theory does not account for so-called dark matter and dark energy. Although those tenuous forms of mater are negligible in our immediate neighborhood, they persist in the interstellar and intergalactic voids, and thereby come to dominate the overall mass of the Universe. For those and other reasons, we cannot remain satisfied. — Frank Wilczek

In physics, your solution should convince a reasonable person. In math, you have to convince a person who's trying to make trouble. Ultimately, in physics, you're hoping to convince Nature. And I've found Nature to be pretty reasonable. — Frank Wilczek

The brain rewards us for interacting with beautiful things. In this way, evolution wants to encourage us to do what is good for us. — Frank Wilczek

I went off to college planning to major in math or philosophy
of course, both those ideas are really the same idea. — Frank Wilczek

Can anyone be utterly without thoughtfulness? The answer is yes. — Philip Roth

An ordinary mistake is one that leads to a dead end, while a profound mistake is one that leads to progress. Anyone can make an ordinary mistake, but it takes a genius to make a profound mistake. — Frank Wilczek

If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a mistake. — Frank Wilczek

Two obsessions are the hallmarks of Nature's artistic style:
Symmetry- a love of harmony, balance, and proportion
Economy- satisfaction in producing an abundance of effects from very limited means — Frank Wilczek

I understand Neverfell, you see. For Neverfell, it is as if other people are part of her. When she believes they are in pain, it hurts her, like a wound in a pretend limb. So right now she is in pain for all the people she saw in the Undercity. — Frances Hardinge

The answer to the ancient question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that 'nothing' is unstable. — Frank Wilczek

When religion talks about our aspirations and our sense of morality, I do not believe that science can contradict it. However, when religion contradicts science on matters of fact, religion must yield. — Frank Wilczek

When you tell a secret - always know it will be told. — Keegan Allen

Knowing how to calculate something is not the same as understanding it. Having a computer to calculate the origin of mass for us may be convincing, but is not satisfying. Fortunately we can understand it too. — Frank Wilczek

If an energetic and powerful Creator made the world, it could be that what moved Him - or Her, or Them, or It - to create was precisely an impulse to make something beautiful. — Frank Wilczek

I knew the Big Ten was one of the best conferences in the country. Every night you're up against pros. It's just so competitive. You can get beat by any team. That's really what I like about the Big Ten. — Trey Burke

Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me. — Herman Melville