Jacob Bronowski

Who was Jacob Bronowski?

Jacob Bronowski was a Polish-Jewish British mathematician, biologist, historian of science, theatre author, poet and inventor. He is best remembered as the presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man, and the accompanying book.

Famous Quotes:

• No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.
• The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
• That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.
• To me, being an intellectual doesn't mean knowing about intellectual issues; it means taking pleasure in them.
• The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
• Power is the by-product of understanding.
• Dissent is the native activity of the scientist, and it has got him into a good deal of trouble in the last years. But if that is cut off, what is left will not be a scientist. And I doubt whether it will be a man.
• Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature.
• Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.
• The world is full of people who never quite get into the first team and who just miss the prizes at the flower show.