Every field has its cathedrals, and Gilbert Newton Lewis reminds us of science’s:
There are ancient cathedrals which, apart from their consecrated purpose, inspire solemnity and awe. Even the curious visitor speaks of serious things, with hushed voice, and as each whisper reverberates through the vaulted nave, the returning echo seems to bear a message of mystery. The labor of generations of architects and artisans has been forgotten, the scaffolding erected for the toil has long since been removed, their mistakes have been erased, or have become hidden by the dust of centuries. Seeing only the perfection of the completed whole, we are impressed as by some superhuman agency. But sometimes we enter such an edifice that is still partly under construction; then the sound of hammers, the reek of tobacco, the trivial jests bandied from workman to workman, enable us to realize that these great structures are but the result of giving to ordinary human effort a direction and a purpose.
Science has its cathedrals, built by the efforts of a few architects and many workers. . . .
(Quoted from the preface of Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances, by Gilbert Newton Lewis, published by Tokiwa Shoin, 1942.)
For a brief biography of Gilbert Newton Lewis, click here. For images of and relating to Gilbert Newton Lewis, click here.
There are ancient cathedrals which, apart from their consecrated purpose, inspire solemnity and awe. Even the curious visitor speaks of serious things, with hushed voice, and as each whisper reverberates through the vaulted nave, the returning echo seems to bear a message of mystery. The labor of generations of architects and artisans has been forgotten, the scaffolding erected for the toil has long since been removed, their mistakes have been erased, or have become hidden by the dust of centuries. Seeing only the perfection of the completed whole, we are impressed as by some superhuman agency. But sometimes we enter such an edifice that is still partly under construction; then the sound of hammers, the reek of tobacco, the trivial jests bandied from workman to workman, enable us to realize that these great structures are but the result of giving to ordinary human effort a direction and a purpose.
Science has its cathedrals, built by the efforts of a few architects and many workers. . . .
(Quoted from the preface of Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances, by Gilbert Newton Lewis, published by Tokiwa Shoin, 1942.)
For a brief biography of Gilbert Newton Lewis, click here. For images of and relating to Gilbert Newton Lewis, click here.
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