Hermann von Helmholtz

originator concept difficul people understand discover truth

"The originator of a new concept...finds, as a rule, that it is much more difficult to find out why other people do not understand him, than it was to discover the new truth."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

music sensation art

"Music stands in a much closer connection with pure sensation than any of the other arts."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

see computation cause photon eye sight

"What we see is the solution to a computational problem, our brains compute the most likely causes from the photon absorptions within our eyes."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

galileo Pisa church chandelier pendulum discovery time

"When young Galileo, then a student at Pisa, noticed one day during divine service a chandelier swinging backwards and forwards, and convinced himself, by counting his pulse, that the duration of the oscillations was independent of the arc through which it moved, who could know that this discovery would eventually put it in our power, by means of the pendulum, to attain an accuracy in the measurement of time till then deemed impossible, and would enable the storm-tossed seaman in the most distant oceans to determine in what degree of longitude he was sailing?"

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

pursuit science practical utility seek in vain

"Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility, may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

quantity force nature unchangeable energy

"The quantity of force which can be brought into action in the whole of Nature is unchangeable, and can neither be increased nor diminished."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

windmill Holland action velocity air in motion wind

"Windmills, which are used in the great plains of Holland and North Germany to supply the want of falling water, afford another instance of the action of velocity. The sails are driven by air in motion - by wind."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

perception sense nervous system object conclusion

"As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems. A peculiar intellectual activity is required to pass from a nervous sensation to the conception of an external object, which the sensation has aroused. The sensations of our nerves of sense are mere symbols indicating certain external objects, and it is usually only after considerable practice that we acquire the power of drawing correct conclusions from our sensations respecting the corresponding objects."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

alcohol ideas scare

"The smallest quantity of alcohol scares away novel ideas."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

black real sensation absence light

"Black is real sensation, even if it is produced by entire absence of light. The sensation of black is distinctly different from the lack of all sensations."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

scales harmony artistic invention natural structure

"The formation of scales and of the web of harmony is a product of artistic invention, and is in no way given by the natural structure or by the natural behaviour of our hearing, as used to be generally maintained hitherto."

― Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)