Words of Scientists

Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar (1887 – 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematics. SOME INTERESTING QUOTES BY SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN He often spoke of Namagiri Thayar, the goddess of Namakkal, as the source of his insights. “THE GODDESS NAMAGIRI WOULD APPEAR TO ME IN DREAMS AND WRITE FORMULAS ON MY TONGUE.” ~ S. Ramanujan Friends and colleagues recorded how he would go into prayer before attempting new mathematics. He often said that ideas came to him in visions, sometimes during dreams, as if from another world. “WHILE ASLEEP, I HAD AN UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE... A RED SCREEN FORMED, AS IT WERE, BY FLOWING BLOOD. A HAND BEGAN TO WRITE ON IT. I BECAME ALL ATTENTION. THAT HAND WROTE A NUMBER OF ELLIPTIC INTEGRALS. THEY STUCK TO MY MIND. AS SOON AS I WOKE UP, I COMMITTED THEM TO WRITING.” ~ S. Ramanujan His mentor, the great British mathematician G.H. Hardy, was an atheist. But even he acknowledged the mystery in Ramanujan’s genius. When Hardy asked how he arrived at such extraordinary results, Ramanujan replied: “THEY COME TO ME WITHOUT EFFORT, DIRECTLY FROM THE GOD.” ~ S. Ramanujan To Hardy, Ramanujan’s notebooks were filled with wild, unproven results—many of which would take Western mathematicians decades to understand or validate. Yet Ramanujan moved through them with an effortless confidence. He didn’t need proofs—he knew they were true, because they had been gifted to him by a higher power. “I AM ENTIRELY CONVINCED THAT THERE IS A SUPREME POWER BEHIND THE UNIVERSE. THE DIVINE SHAPES MY THOUGHTS. WITHOUT HIS PRESENCE, I AM NOTHING.” ~ S. Ramanujan Ramanujan saw no separation between science and spirit, between formula and faith. For him, mathematics was a language of God, and every equation a fragment of divine truth. “THERE IS NO NUMBER WITHOUT MEANING. EVERYTHING IN MATHEMATICS EXISTS AS PART OF A LARGER DESIGN.” ~ S. Ramanujan He passed away at the young age of 32, leaving behind nearly 4,000 formulas, many of which still inspire research today. Yet his legacy is not just in numbers—it’s in his reminder that inspiration can come from the soul, and that the mind, when connected to spirit, can touch infinity.

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. ~ Wikipedia

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, (1909 – 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely credited as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme". He was the founding director and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), as well as the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. Bhabha was awarded the Adams Prize (1942) and Padma Bhushan (1954), and nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1951 and 1953–1956. He died in the crash of Air India Flight 101 in 1966, at the age of 56. “PHYSICS TELLS US ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE, BUT NOT OF THE SOUL. FOR THAT, WE MUST TURN INWARD.” ~ Homi Bhabha

Niels Bohr said: “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” “Understanding quantum mechanics is not about understanding but about accepting.” "I go into the Upanishads to ask questions." "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real." “Quantum theory forces us to abandon the classical ideal of determinism.” "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may well be another profound truth." “A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself.” “Observations are not independent of the observer.” "We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry." "How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress." “Quantum mechanics does not describe reality—it describes our knowledge of reality.”

“Quantum theory will not look ridiculous to people who have read Vedanta.” ~ Heisenberg "After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so crazy suddenly made more sense." ~ Heisenberg [In an interview, Fritjof Capra, a famous author of a book "Tao of Physics" that explains parallels between Science & Spirituality, states that Schrödinger in speaking about Heisenberg has said...] “I had several discussions with Heisenberg. I lived in England then [circa 1972], and I visited him several times in Munich and showed him the whole manuscript chapter by chapter. He was very interested and very open, and he told me something that I think is not known publicly because he never published it. He said that he was well aware of these parallels. While he was working on quantum theory he went to India to lecture and was a guest of Tagore. He talked a lot with Tagore about Indian philosophy. Heisenberg told me that these talks had helped him a lot with his work in physics because they showed him that all these new ideas in quantum physics were in fact not all that crazy. He realized there was, in fact, a whole culture that subscribed to very similar ideas. Heisenberg said that this was a great help for him. Niels Bohr had a similar experience when he went to China.” ~ Schrödinger on Heisenberg -- Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a major breakthrough paper. Heisenberg uncertainty principle which school students study in Physics, talks about the dual nature of matter (particle and wave nature of matter) and was named after him. ~ Wikipedia

"There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other... And indeed it was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls" ~ Max Plank -- Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as the originator of quantum theory, which revolutionised human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. Planck's constant which most of us have studied during high-school days is named after him.

“Most of my ideas & theories are heavily influenced by Vedanta." ~ Erwin Schrödinger "Quantum physics thus reveals a basic Oneness of the Universe." ~ Erwin Schrödinger “Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge……It has nothing to do with individual. The ego or its separation is an illusion. Indeed in a certain sense two "I"s are identical namely when one disregards all special contents- their Karma. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further…….when man dies his Karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.” ~ Erwin Schrödinger -- Erwin Schrodinger won the Noble Prize in Physics in 1933. He is a famous scientist known for the Schrodinger wave equation, which all the science students in India study in the 12th standard.

Erwin Schrodinger won the Noble Prize in Physics in 1933. He is a famous scientist known for the Schrodinger wave equation, which all the science students in India study in the 12th standard.

“The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible.” ~ Nicole Tesla -- Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

"Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.” ~ Robert Oppenheimer -- J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project—the World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons. After the war ended, Oppenheimer became chairman of the influential General Advisory Committee of the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission. He used that position to lobby for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb during a 1949–1950 governmental debate on the question and subsequently took stances on defense-related issues that provoked the ire of some U.S. government and military factions.

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