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There is a quote from a 19-20th century scientist that goes (and I am paraphrasing):

New scientific theories are never accepted until old scientist die.

Who is this cynical quote attributed to, and what is the exact phrasing of the quote?

Based on my memory of the quote I would put the following odds:

  • 90% it was a physicist from the late 19 or early 20th century
  • 70% it was Niels Bohr or Erwin Schrodinger — I did of course google for a list of known quotes but didn’t see the above one anywhere.
  • 20% it was in reference to quantum mechanics.
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2 Answers2

15

Max Planck, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1949), pp. 33-34:

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
as quoted in:
• M. López Corredoira and C. Castro Perelman, Against the Tide: A Critical Review by Scientists of How Physics and Astronomy Get Done (Boca Raton, Fla.: Universal Publishers, 2008), p. 12
or
• Peter Pesic, Music and the Making of Modern Science (MIT Press, 2014), p. 265.
Geremia
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  • Wonder if this was first published in German. The '49 edition was translated from German. – MaxW Jun 05 '19 at 21:07
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    @MaxW Yes, in 1948: M. Planck, Wissenschaftliche Selbstbiographie. Leipzig 1948. (PAV, Bd. 3, S. 374–401): « Eine neue wissenschaftliche Wahrheit pflegt sich nicht in der Weise durchzusetzen, dass ihre Gegner überzeugt werden und sich als belehrt erklären, sondern vielmehr dadurch, dass ihre Gegner allmählich aussterben und dass die heranwachsende Generation von vornherein mit der Wahrheit vertraut gemacht ist. » – Geremia Jun 05 '19 at 21:24
  • @ Geremia, Is this machine translation good (DeepL.com)? "A new scientific truth does not assert itself in such a way that its opponents are persuaded and declare themselves instructed, but rather by the fact that its opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiar with the truth from the outset." – AChem Jun 06 '19 at 03:06
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    @M.Farooq I'm not that good at German to know, but cf. this question on German StackExchange. – Geremia Jun 06 '19 at 03:29
  • That forum is not for translations. I was explicitly told once because I often ask questions there. That is for language related questions. DeepL is pretty good. I have written one article on the DeepL German translation for chemistry related papers with the help of a German co-author. – AChem Jun 06 '19 at 03:40
  • The machine forgot to translate "pflegt sich": "does not USUALLY assert itself..." – fdb Jun 12 '19 at 16:46
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90% it was a physicist from the late 19 or early 20th century

Excellent memory! It is actually from Thomas Kuhn who was a physicist, and who later turned into a philosopher. His book The Structure of Scientific Revolution mentions something like this on page 152. This is the third edition 1962 reprinted in 1996.

Edits: On page 151, he also quotes Planck.

Book image

AChem
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    I think it is better to attribute the articulation of this idea to Planck. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle. – KCd Jun 05 '19 at 03:44
  • It is likely then, but Kuhn did not credit Planck. We should see the original book first because there so many incorrectly attributed quotes to big names. – AChem Jun 05 '19 at 04:16
  • Adding the year of the book (I believe it is 1962) might help decide which answer is most correct. – Bernat Jun 05 '19 at 08:53
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    Wrong ! See Kuhn, SSR, page 151 : "And Max Planck, surveying his own career in his Scientific Autobiography, sadly remarked that..." – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 05 '19 at 09:56
  • @Mauro I am specifically talking about this quoted paragraph! Those are Kuhn's own words! Yes he quotes Max Planck in previous paragraphs. – AChem Jun 05 '19 at 13:53
  • But your answer does not mention Planck's name ... The 19th-20th Century physicist was Max Planck and not the 20th Century historian of science Thomas Kuhn. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 05 '19 at 13:55
  • Added it for the sake of completeness. Kuhn also had a PhD in physics. – AChem Jun 05 '19 at 13:58
  • I think it's a big stretch to claim that this paragraph is the quote from the question. It's certainly based on the same idea but attributing the quote to Kuhn is like attributing "Man cannot live by bread alone" to the authors of some government nutrition guidelines. – David Richerby Jun 05 '19 at 17:23
  • I agree David, given that there is a full reference to Max Planck now. – AChem Jun 05 '19 at 18:46