---
title: "1 Bystanders Quotes By Sam Kean"
description: "1 Bystanders quotes by Sam Kean. Plus more from Sam Kean and more Bystanders sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96f/sam-kean-10876_amputation_in-these-days-before-antiseptics-doctors_1545271.jpg"
---

> [In these days before antiseptics, doctors themselves also suffered high mortality rates. Florence Nightingale, a nurse during the Crimean War (1853-1856), watched one particularly inept surgeon cut both himself and, somehow, a bystander while blundering about during an amputation. Both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/in-these-days-before-antiseptics-doctors-themselves-also-suffered/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96f/sam-kean-10876_amputation_in-these-days-before-antiseptics-doctors_1545271.jpg)

## Other authors on Bystanders

- [Ralph Waldo Emerson 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bystanders/ralph-waldo-emerson/)

## More by Sam Kean

> [“So while Pauling struggled with his model, Watson and Crick turned theirs inside out, so the negative phosphorus ions wouldn’t touch. This gave them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/so-while-pauling-struggled-with-his-model-watson-and-crick-turned/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [So if big enough droplets fell far enough fast enough, someone floating right near the metallic hydrogen layer inside Jupiter maybe, just maybe, could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/so-if-big-enough-droplets-fell-far-enough-fast-enough-someone/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [Mendeleev, unlike the squeamish Meyer, had balls enough to predict that new elements would be dug up. Look harder, you chemists and geologists, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/mendeleev-unlike-the-squeamish-meyer-had-balls-enough-to-predict-that/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Lithium regulates the proteins that control the body’s inner clock. This clock runs, oddly, on DNA, inside special neurons deep in the brain. Special…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/lithium-regulates-the-proteins-that-control-the-body-s-inner-clock/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Despite the earnest belief of most of his fans, Einstein did not win his Nobel Prize for the theory of relativity, special or general.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/despite-the-earnest-belief-of-most-of-his-fans-einstein-did-not-win/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“The irony is too rich not to point out. When arranging the different human races in tiers, from just below the angels to just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/the-irony-is-too-rich-not-to-point-out-when-arranging-the-different/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Think of the most fussy science teacher you ever had. The one who docked your grade if the sixth decimal place in your answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/think-of-the-most-fussy-science-teacher-you-ever-had-the-one-who/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“For his part, Mendeleev scanned Lecoq de Boisbaudran’s data on gallium and told the experimentalist, with no justification, that he must have measured something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/for-his-part-mendeleev-scanned-lecoq-de-boisbaudran-s-data-on-gallium/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Sir Isaac Newton famously said that he had achieved everything by standing on the shoulders of giants—the scientific men whose findings he built upon.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/sir-isaac-newton-famously-said-that-he-had-achieved-everything-by/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“If certain bacteria, fungi, or algae inch across something made of copper, they absorb copper atoms, which disrupt their metabolism (human cells are unaffected).…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/if-certain-bacteria-fungi-or-algae-inch-across-something-made-of/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Scarily, cadmium is not even the worst poison among the elements. It sits above mercury, a neurotoxin. And to the right of mercury sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/scarily-cadmium-is-not-even-the-worst-poison-among-the-elements-it/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Somehow, though, life turned that danger around, and this former poison became essential. It may sound trite, but this reversal always reminds me of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/somehow-though-life-turned-that-danger-around-and-this-former-poison/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Since before even the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, human beings used the stars and seasons to track time and record their most important moments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/since-before-even-the-ancient-egyptians-and-babylonians-human-beings/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Today alpha equals 1/137.0359 or so. Regardless, its value makes the periodic table possible. It allows atoms to exist and also allows them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/today-alpha-equals-1-137-0359-or-so-regardless-its-value-makes-the/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Furthermore, because silicon packs on more protons than carbon, it's bulkier, like carbon with fifty extra pounds. Sometimes that's not a big deal. Silicon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/furthermore-because-silicon-packs-on-more-protons-than-carbon-it-s/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

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