Edward Walter Maunder Quotes

4 Sourced Quotes

It seems impossible to believe that Life, so rare a fruit of the universe, intelligent Life, conscious Life, to which the long course of evolution has been so manifestly leading up all through the long ages, should have no better destiny than a final and hopeless extinction; that this Earth and all the efforts and aspirations of the long generations of men should have no worthier end than to swing, throughout the eternal ages, an empty, frozen heap of dust, circling round the extinct cinder that was once its Sun. If we look backward, we seem to discern clear signs of progress; if we look forward, we discern nothing but the veil. Science is but organized experience, and experience of the future we have none.

Edward Walter Maunder

We have no right to assume, and yet we do habitually assume, that our telescopes reveal to us the ultimate structure of the planet.

Edward Walter Maunder

The oldest picture book in our possession is the Midnight Sky.

Edward Walter Maunder

Comets cannot be homes of life; they are not sufficiently condensed; indeed, they are probably but loose congeries of small stones. But even if comets were of planetary size it is clear that life could not be supported on them; water could not remain in the liquid state on a world that rushed from one such extreme of temperature to another.

Edward Walter Maunder

Edward Walter Maunder

Edward Walter Maunder

Creative Commons

Born: April 12, 1851

Died: March 21, 1928 (aged 76)

Bio: Walter Maunder was a British astronomer best remembered for his study of sunspots and the solar magnetic cycle that led to his identification of the period from 1645 to 1715 that is now known as the Maunder Minimum.

Known for:

The astronomy of the Bible (1908)
Are the planets inhabited? (1913)
The Science of the Stars (1912)

Edward Walter Maunder on Wikipedia

Edward Walter Maunder works on Gutenberg Project

Suggest an edit or a new quote

English Astronomer Quotes

Astronomer Quotes

19th-century Astronomer Quotes