Eugene Wigner

“It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too.”

“The simplicities of natural laws arise through the complexities of the language we use for their expression.”

“It takes so long to train a physicist to the place where he understands the nature of physical problems that he is already too old to solve them.”

“When the rods were pushed back in and the clicking had died down, we suddenly experiences a let-down feeling, for all of us understood the language of the counter. Even though we had anticipated the success of the experiment, its accomplishment had a deep impact on us. For some time we had known that we were about to unlock a giant; still we could not escape an eerie feeling when we had actually done it. We felt as, I presume, everyone feels who has done something that he knowns will have very far-reaching consequences which he cannot foresee.”

“Physics is becoming so unbelievably complex that it is taking longer and longer to train a physicist. It is taking so long, in fact, to train a physicist to the place where he understands the nature of physical problems that he is already too old to solve them.”