Kenneth W. Ford Quotes

Never make a calculation until you know the answer. Make an estimate before every calculation, try a simple physical argument (symmetry! invariance! conservation!) before every derivation, guess the answer to every paradox and puzzle. Courage: No one else needs to know what the guess is. Therefore make it quickly, by instinct. A right guess reinforces this instinct. A wrong guess brings the refreshment of surprise. In either case life as a spacetime expert, however long, is more fun!

Spacetime grips mass, telling it how to move...
Mass grips spacetime, telling it how to curve

We live on an island of knowledge surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As the island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.

Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to curve.

Nobody can be anybody without somebodies around.

Knowledge only progresses by making mistakes as fast as possible.

Yes, there is happiness to be found in the mere contemplation of the deepest mysteries.

In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it.

We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.

What we call the past is built on bits.

Never make a calculation until you know the answer.

There are many modes of thinking about the world around us and our place in it. I like to consider all the angles from which we might gain perspective on our amazing universe and the nature of existence.

Recent decades have taught us that physics is a magic window. It shows us the illusion that lies behind reality — and the reality that lies behind illusion. Its scope is immensely greater than we one realized. We are no longer satisfied with insights only into particles, or fields of force, or geometry, or even space and time. Today we demand of physics some understanding of existence itself.

The universe gives birth to consciousness, and consciousness gives meaning to the universe.

Physicists love this number not just because it is dimensionless, but also because it is a combination of three fundamental constants of nature. Why do these constants come together to make the particular number 1/137.036 and not some other number?