But by far the most terrible champion who now appeared was Cardinal Bellarmin, one of the greatest theologians the world has known. He was earnest, sincere, and learned, but insisted on making science conform to Scripture. The weapons which men of Bellarmin’s stamp used were purely theological. They held up before the world the dreadful […]
Astronauts - Astronomy Quotes
Lunar Voyage: Flash, Crash, Stash, Trash, Splash.
Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for those people who can’t remember where they leave things.
Astronauts are escapists.
What we need is a big telescope in every village and hamlet and some bloke there with that fire in his eye who can show something of the glory the world sails in. (inventor of the Dobsonian telescope and “guiding light” to amateur astronomers)
In this matter, it behooves all those who wish to make such observations to be forewarned. For it is necessary first that they prepare a most accurate glass that shows objects brightly, distinctly, and not veiled by any obscurity; and second that it multiply them at least four hundred times and show them twenty times […]
None of these gods could give a true account of the creation of this little earth. All were woefully deficient in geology and astronomy. As a rule, they were most miserable legislators, and as executives, they were far inferior to the average of American presidents.
People give ear to an upstart astrologer (Copernicus) who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science […]
Astronomy is one of the sublimest fields of human investigation. The mind that grasps its facts and principles receives something of the enlargement and grandeur belonging to the science itself. It is a quickener of devotion.
Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation! (as he joined fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong on the first moon walk.)
