Velocity quotes
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Thomas_Aquinas
Reason
“Reason may be employed in two ways to establish a point: first for the purpose of furnishing sufficient proof of some principle, as in natural science, where sufficient proof can be brought to show that the movement of the heavens is always of uniform velocity. Reason is employed in another way, not as furnishing a sufficient proof of a principle, but as confirming an already established principle, by showing the congruity of its results, as in astrology the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is considered as established because thereby the sensible appearances of the heavenly movements can be explained; not, however, as if this reason were sufficient, since some other theory might explain them.”
- Source: Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica [1266-1273], Part I, question 32, article 2 (reply to objection 2), trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (i.e. L. Shapeote), revised D. J. Sullivan (1952), Vol. I, 177.
- Keywords: Reason_quotes Proof_quotes Confirmation_quotes Congruity_quotes Employ_quotes Establish_quotes Point_quotes First_quotes Furnish_quotes Sufficient_quotes Principle_quotes Natural_quotes Science_quotes Show_quotes Move_quotes Heaven_quotes Uniform_quotes Velocity_quotes Result_quotes Astrology_quotes Theory_quotes Eccentric_quotes Epicycles_quotes Consider_quotes Sensible_quotes Appearance_quotes Explanation_quotes
Grace_Hopper
Millisecond
“I normally drive all of my bosses totally nuts. Because I won't do anything until I understand what I have been told to do. So, when you tell me to do something I start asking questions until I get a clear picture of what I've been told to do... so I naturally said, ‘What's a millisecond?’ Well they told me it's a thousandth of a second, and I had a problem immediately. I can see a second go by on a clock but darned if I could see a thousandth of it. So, I said, ‘Please show me a millisecond.’ And nobody but nobody would show me a millisecond. Time went on with me still fussing 'til somebody stuck a finder in one of my programs and said, ‘Hey, you wasted five microseconds’ and I said ‘So what? What's a Microsecond?’ Well, they told me it's a millionth of a second, and again I had a problem. In the first place I didn't know what a million of anything was. The biggest check I had ever seen was less than a thousand dollars. I didn't know what a million was, and if I didn't know what a million was, I didn't know what a millionth was. And I fussed and fumed because I wanted to know what a microsecond was. I got nowhere. Pretty soon over in the engineering building they started talking about circuits that act in nano seconds, billionths of a second. Well that really had me on the ropes, because in the first place I didn't know what a billion was. I don't think most of those guys up in Washington do either. And if you don't know what a billion is, how on earth do you know what a billionth is? I fussed and fumed. Finally, one morning in total desperation I called over to the engineering building and I said, ‘Please cut off a nanosecond and send it over to me.’ And I brought you some today. Now what I wanted when I asked for a nanosecond was, I wanted a piece of wire which would represent the maximum distance that electricity could travel in a billionth of a second. Of course, it wouldn't really be through wire. It would be out in space at the velocity of light. So, if you start at the velocity of light and use your friendly computer, you discover that a nanosecond is 11.8 inches long/ The maximum limiting distance that electricity can travel in a billionth of a second. Well, I was real[ly] happy with my nanosecond. I looked at it from all angles. I thought about it. I looked at wall switches and counted the distance some of those lights went on. Geez, these may have taken a couple of thousand nanoseconds. Finally at the end of about a week I called back and said, ‘Look. I need something to compare this to. Could I please have a microsecond?’ I've only got one microsecond so I can't give you each one. There's a microsecond. 984 feet. I sometimes think we ought to hang one over every programmer's desk so they'll know exactly what they're throwing away when they throw away a microsecond. I hope you all get some of these nanoseconds. I've got lots of them with me. They're absolutely marvelous for explaining to wives and children, and admirals and generals. You may find yourself in a spot where you have to explain why two pieces of equipment have to be close together, Or explain to an admiral why it takes so damn long to send a message via satellite because there are an awful lot of nanoseconds... But I said I wanted to add in 300 picoseconds. Now a picosecond is a thousandth of a nanosecond. The best way to make picoseconds is to get one of those big pepper grinders and you can make picoseconds all over the table.”
- Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 40:25.
Pierre-Simon_Laplace
System of Nature
“The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence that at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective position, motions, and general affects of all these entities at any time in the past or future. Physical astronomy, the branch of knowledge that does the greatest honor to the human mind, gives us an idea, albeit imperfect, of what such an intelligence would be. The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time. Man owes that advantage to the power of the instrument he employs, and to the small number of relations that it embraces in its calculations. But ignorance of the different causes involved in the production of events, as well as their complexity, taken together with the imperfection of analysis, prevents our reaching the same certainty about the vast majority of phenomena. Thus there are things that are uncertain for us, things more or less probable, and we seek to compensate for the impossibility of knowing them by determining their different degrees of likelihood. So it was that we owe to the weakness of the human mind one of the most delicate and ingenious of mathematical theories, the science of chance or probability.”
- Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Recherches, 1º, sur l'Intégration des Équations Différentielles aux Différences Finies, et sur leur Usage dans la Théorie des Hasards' (1773, published 1776). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 8, 144-5, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 26.
- Keywords: State_quotes Present_quotes System_quotes Nature_quotes Consequence_quotes Moment_quotes Precede_quotes Conceive_quotes Intelligence_quotes Instant_quotes Comprehension_quotes Relationship_quotes Universe_quotes Position_quotes Motion_quotes Causality_quotes Time_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes Astronomy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Humanity_quotes Mind_quotes Idea_quotes Imperfect_quotes Law_quotes Celestial_quotes Body_quotes Mass_quotes Distance_quotes Analysis_quotes Determine_quotes Century_quotes Mathematics_quotes Velocity_quotes Observation_quotes Advantage_quotes Power_quotes Instrument_quotes Calculation_quotes Ignorance_quotes Cause_quotes Production_quotes Event_quotes Complexity_quotes Certainty_quotes Majority_quotes Phenomena_quotes Probability_quotes Impossibility_quotes Likelihood_quotes Weakness_quotes Theory_quotes Chance_quotes
