George Porter Quotations

I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy. If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago.

Tonight I should like to thank all those who have shared my work and to acknowledge the debt that I owe to my wife whose encouragement to put research before all other things has been a great strength to me.

When the honour is given to that scientist personally the happiness is sweet indeed. Science is, on the whole, an informal activity, a life of shirt sleeves and coffee served in beakers.

It is not only my laboratory and my place of work but also my home, so that on the 30th October I was able to share my happiness immediately with my students and collaborators and, at the same time, with my wife and family.

We three chemists here are the most fortunate of Nobel Laureates, many of whom are rewarded after years of patient and painstaking work.

It is a joyous occasion for a scientist when the subject which interests him most is recognised by the highest honour that the world can bestow.

I think music helps people through many means; it helps people just get through the day, ... I know when I am having not so good a time I put on some classical music and it just gets me through.

We are rewarded for work the very essence of which is that we were so impatient that we spent only a millionth of a second over an experiment.

When I get away from home for too long I start to get crazy, so I need to get back, ... We have to get back just to get our feet in the mud, in that crawfish juice, or something.

We feel she will be a real good fit for us here,

Science and Literature are splendid, and it is really to science and literature themselves that this distinguished company pays its homage.

I wanted to stay, but my granddaughter convinced me Sunday morning that we should leave, ... She was sitting in the gazebo and she said, 'Grandpa, when are we going to leave?' She doesn't usually scare that easy.

I'm overwhelmed. A lot of people run and hide, but everyone has come to help us.

To solve a problem is to create new problems, new knowledge immediately reveals new areas of ignorance, and the need for new experiments. At least, in the field of fast reactions, the experiments do not take very long to perform.

Science is, on the whole, an informal activity, a life of shirt sleeves and coffee served in beakers.

I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago.

Should we force science down the throats of those that have no taste for it ? Is it our duty to drag them kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century ? I am afraid that it is.

To feed applied science by starving basic science is like economising on the foundations of a building so that it may be built higher. It is only a matter of time before the whole edifice crumbles.