Regarding computing as a straightforward routine, some theoreticians still tend to underestimate its intellectual value and challenge, while practitioners often ignore its accuracy and overrate its validity. C. K. Chu, Columbia University, 1978
Category Archives: Quotes
Foundations of Turbulence
The mathematical formulation of the problem of homogeneous turbulence is this: Given an infinite body of uniform fluid in which motions conform to the equations and, and given that at some initial instant the velocity of the fluid is a random function of position described by certain probability laws which are independent of position, to …
On Nonsense
There is no reason to suppose that Carroll was in the slightest degree evasive in denying that he had intended his poem to mean anything at all. But, as he himself pointed out, words can mean much more than a writer intends. They can express meanings buried so deep in an author’s mind that he …
On Teaching Philosophy
You asked me how should I best teach them. Should I teach them from the point of view of the history of science the applications? My theory is that the best way to teach is to have no philosophy. We must be chaotic and confuse them in the sense that you use every possible way …
Friedwardt Winterberg
Wernher Von Braun once said that we have invented rockets, not to destroy our planet, but to explore the universe. Similarly, we may say that we have discovered thermonuclear energy, not to destroy our planet, but to advance mankind toward a peaceful, galactic culture. Friedwardt Winterberg
One Explosion Tests and thoughts on Terribleness
Trinity: the first four seconds. Oppenheimer later told journalists, “If you ask: can we make them more terrible, the answer is yes; if you ask: can we make more of them, the answer is yes; if you ask: can we make them terribly more terrible, the answer is-probably.”
Prandtl (1926)
What I am about to say on the phenomena of turbulent flows is still far from conclusive. It concerns, rather, the first steps in a new path which I hope will be followed by many others. The researches on the problem of turbulence which have been carried on at Göttingen for about five years have …
Oliver Heaviside
Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion? Oliver Heaviside according to von Karman and Biot, on the subject of turbulence
Daniel Bernoulli on Jean le Rond d’Alembert
“I have seen with astonishment that apart from a few little things there is nothing to be seen in his hydrodynamics but an impertinent conceit. His criticisms are puerile indeed, and show not only that he is no remarkable man, but also that he never will be.” Daniel Bernoulli on Jean le Rond d’Alembert
Matsuo Basho
An ancient pond!With a sound from the waterOf the frog as it plunges in. Matsuo Basho, 1643-1694