Pierre Lecomte du Noüy Quotes

9 Sourced Quotes

The man of science who cannot formulate a hypothesis is only an accountant of phenomena.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
Let us admit that no matter how small the chance it could happen, one molecule could be created by such astronomical odds of chance. However, one molecule is of no use. Hundreds of millions of identical ones are necessary. Thus we either admit the miracle or doubt the absolute truth of science.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
The aim of science is not so much to search for truth, or even truths, as to classify our knowledge and to establish relations between observable phenomena in order to be able to predict the future in a certain measure and to explain the sequence of phenomena in relation to ourselves.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
The complex is not always profound; but the profound is not necessarily simple.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
Any man who believes in God must realize that no scientific fact, as long as it is true, can contradict God. Otherwise, it would not be true. Therefore, any man who is afraid of science does not possess a strong faith.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
Whenever there is no objective confirmation, our attitude toward certain theories depends, in the last resort, on aesthetic considerations, disturbing as this may seem.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
The scientist with imagination is the pioneer of progress.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
The laws of chance have rendered, and will continue to render, immense services to science. It is inconceivable that we could do without them, but they only express an admirable, subjective interpretation of certain inorganic phenomena and of their evolution. They are not a true explanation of objective reality.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
I said that an observed fact only becomes a scientific fact when all the observers are in unanimous agreement.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy