Henri Poincare
Henri Poincare
Jules Henri Poincaréwas a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as The Last Universalist by Eric Temple Bell, since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth29 April 1854
CountryFrance
american-journalist species
It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient.
american-journalist believe both convenient equally necessity
To doubt everything, or, to believe everything, are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
american-journalist cannot cause determines due effect escapes notice
A very small cause which escapes our notice determines a considerable effect that we cannot fail to see, and then we say that the effect is due to chance.
avoiding consists infinite invention useful useless
Invention consists in avoiding the constructing of useless contraptions and in constructing the useful combinations which are in infinite minority. To invent is to discern, to choose.
american-journalist governed phenomenon succeeding
If that enabled us to predict the succeeding situation with the same approximation, that is all we require, and we should say that the phenomenon had been predicted, that it is governed by the laws.
means necessary neither nor
Thus, be it understood, to demonstrate a theorem, it is neither necessary nor even advantageous to know what it means . . . .
science house stones
Science is built up of facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
beautiful math science
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
science intuition hunches
It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.
beautiful nature knowing
If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living
creativity mind use
The mind uses its faculty for creativity only when experience forces it to do so.
mathematics geometry theorems
One geometry cannot be more true than another; it can only be more convenient.
discovery generations spontaneity
Mathematical discoveries, small or great are never born of spontaneous generation.
errors mathematics mathematical
How is error possible in mathematics?