150 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 40 



I wish briefly to list certain virtues to be gained from the study of 

 physics. These constitute the remaining cultural values of physics 

 which I want to discuss. 



VI 



Physics derives its fifth great cultural value from the fact that it 

 teaches the meaning and the value of natural law. This discovery 

 of the existence of the laws of nature has been one of man's greatest 

 triumphs. It has changed his whole intellectual outlook. 



To ancient man the universe was a chaos, governed by caprice. In 

 order to explain its phenomena, he found it necessary to people the 

 heavens with a host of minor gods and goddesses, and the mountains 

 and streams with a varied throng of giants, nymphs, and spirits. The 

 occurrence of an eclipse, the appearance of a comet, the gathering 

 of the thunderstorm, and the flash of the lightning were interpreted 

 as the activities of these mythological personages. 



Gradually science revealed the order of the cosmos. It taught that 

 the universe was orderly, functioning in response to well-established 

 laws. A corollary of the existence of these laws is the important fact 

 that their willful neglect leads automatically to its own inexorable 

 penalty. 



A sixth great cultural value of physics arises from the fact that 

 it teaches precision. Experiments must be planned with precision. 

 Observations and measurements must be precise. Thinking must be 

 definite and logical. This is a lesson well worth learning. The stu- 

 dent who carries habits of precision from the physical laboratory to 

 the outside world is the richer thereby. 



A seventh great cultural value of physics is that it inculcates a love 

 for the truth and a desire to attain it. I have dwelled at some length 

 upon the present and future applications of physics. 



To the scientist, the practical applications have always been sec- 

 ondary. He has sought primarily to understand nature and the 

 universe. Galileo, meditating upon the laws of motion, was trying to 

 understand the workings of nature. He was not thinking of engines 

 and machines. Maxwell, seeking to explain the nature of light, had 

 no thought of the radio. This does not mean that science is con- 

 temptuous of its practical uses. The opposite is true. But it does 

 mean that the true scientist is motivated by a higher aim than to make 

 life easier. He wishes also to ennoble and to enrich life. The spirit 

 of science then is, first of all, the wish to know, the urge to seek, the 

 desire to com.prehend the universe. 



I have sometimes noticed that people who have had no training 

 in science, and therefore have no adequate understanding of its spirit, 

 are confused by this point. I have had them come to me, for ex- 

 ample, and ask, "What is the practical use of the Einstein theory?" 

 They undei-stand that scientists regard Einstein as the greatest scien- 



