Harlow Shapley Quotes

• No one trusts a model except the man who wrote it; everyone trusts an observation, except the man who made it.

  Harlow Shapley

  Men, He Man, Made

  61 Copy quote

• Theories crumble, but good observations never fade.

  Harlow Shapley

  Astronomy, Theory, Observation

  22 Copy quote

• The solar system is off center and consequently man is too.

  Harlow Shapley

  Men, Solar System

  Harlow Shapley (1969). “Through rugged ways to the stars”

  15 Copy quote

• A hypothesis or theory is clear, decisive, and positive, but it is believed by no one but the man who created it. Experimental findings, on the other hand, are messy, inexact things, which are believed by everyone except the man who did that work.

  Harlow Shapley

  Science, Men, Hands

  14 Copy quote

• Chaos is but unperceived order; it is a word indicating the limitations of the human mind and the paucity of observational facts. The words ‘chaos,’ ‘accidental,’ ‘chance,’ ‘unpredictable,’ are conveniences behind which we hide our ignorance.

  Harlow Shapley

  Ignorance, Order, Mind

  HARLOW SHAPLEY (1958). “OF STARS AND MEN”

  9 Copy quote

• It seems to me that the evidence ... is opposed to the view that the spirals are individual galaxies comparable with our own. In fact, there appears as yet no reason for modifying the tentative hypothesis that the spirals are not composed of typical stars at all, but are truly nebulous objects.

  Harlow Shapley

  Stars, Science, Views

  12 Copy quote

• Some piously record 'In the beginning God', but I say 'In the beginning hydrogen'.

  Harlow Shapley

  Records, Hydrogen

  11 Copy quote

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