18+ Oliver Heaviside Quotes On Education, Religion And World

Why should I refuse a good dinner simply because I don't understand the digestive processes involved? — Oliver Heaviside

Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion? — Oliver Heaviside

If it is love that makes the world go round, it is self-induction that makes electromagnetic waves go round the world. — Oliver Heaviside

Theory is the essence of facts. Without theory scientific knowledge would be only worthy of the madhouse. — Oliver Heaviside

We do not dwell in the Palace of Truth. But, as was mentioned to me not long since, "There is a time coming when all things shall be found out." I am not so sanguine myself, believing that the well in which Truth is said to reside is really a bottomless pit. — Oliver Heaviside

Mathematics is an experimental science, and definitions do not come first, but later on. — Oliver Heaviside

Mathematics is of two kinds, Rigorous and Physical. The former is Narrow: the latter Bold and Broad. To have to stop to formulate rigorous demonstrations would put a stop to most physico-mathematical inquiries. Am I to refuse to eat because I do not fully understand the mechanism of digestion? — Oliver Heaviside

It is shocking that young people should be addling their brains over mere logical subtleties in Euclid's Elements, trying to understand the proof of one obvious fact in terms of something equally .. obvious. — Oliver Heaviside

Euclid for children is barbarous. — Oliver Heaviside

Waves from moving sources: Adagio. Andante. Allegro moderato. — Oliver Heaviside

However absurd it may seem, I do in all seriousness hereby declare that I am animated mainly by philanthropic motives. I desire to do good to my fellow creatures, even to the Cui bonos. — Oliver Heaviside

Criticized for using formal mathematical manipulations, without understanding how they worked: Should I refuse a good dinner simply because I do not understand the process of digestion? — Oliver Heaviside

Electric and magnetic forces. May they live for ever, and never be forgot, if only to remind us that the science of electromagnetics, in spite of the abstract nature of its theory, involving quantities whose nature is entirely unknown at the present, is really and truly founded on the observations of real Newtonian forces, electric and magnetic respectively. — Oliver Heaviside

Ohm (a distinguished mathematician, be it noted) brought into order a host of puzzling facts connecting electromotive force and electric current in conductors, which all previous electricians had only succeeded in loosely binding together qualitatively under some rather vague statements. Even as late as 20 years ago, "quantity" and "tension" were much used by men who did not fully appreciate Ohm's law. — Oliver Heaviside

Facts are of not much use, considered as facts. They bewilder by their number and their apparent incoherency. Let them be digested into theory, however, and brought into mutual harmony, and it is another matter. — Oliver Heaviside

Logic can be patient, for it is eternal. — Oliver Heaviside

...there is no absolute scale of size in nature, and the small may be as important, or more so than the great. — Oliver Heaviside

The best result of mathematics is to be able to do without it. — Oliver Heaviside

Life Lessons by Oliver Heaviside

  1. Oliver Heaviside pioneered the development of mathematical theories for the study of electricity and magnetism, which helped to revolutionize electrical engineering.
  2. Heaviside's work in the field of electrical engineering helped to lay the foundations for modern telecommunications.
  3. Heaviside's work serves as a reminder that the application of mathematics and science can be used to solve complex problems and create new technologies.
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