There are lots of ideas which extend the Copernican principle one step further. We went from the solar system to the galaxy… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
General writing about science, even if we do it badly, helps us to see our work in perspective and broadens our vision. — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Not even the most secular among us can fail to be uplifted by Christianity's architectural legacy - the great cathedrals. These immense… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
It is foolish to claim, as some do, that emigration into space offers a long-term escape from Earth's problems. Nowhere in our… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Some things, like the orbits of the planets, can be calculated far into the future. But that's atypical. In most contexts, there… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
If you represent the Earth's lifetime by a single year, say from January when it was made to December, the 21st-century would… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Post-human intelligence will develop hypercomputers with the processing power to simulate living things - even entire worlds. Perhaps advanced beings could use… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Perhaps future space probes will be plastered in commercial logos, just as Formula One cars are now. Perhaps Robot Wars in space… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Space doesn't offer an escape from Earth's problems. And even with nuclear fuel, the transit time to nearby stars exceeds a human… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
The most important advances, the qualitative leaps, are the least predictable. Not even the best scientists predicted the impact of nuclear physics,… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Stars that become supernovae start off at least eight times heavier than our sun. They're so short-lived that, even if they have… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
There's now, for the first time, a huge gulf between the artefacts of our everyday life and what even a single expert,… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Everything, however complicated - breaking waves, migrating birds, and tropical forests - is made of atoms and obeys the equations of quantum… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
A monkey is unaware that atoms exist. Likewise, our brainpower may not stretch to the deepest aspects of reality. The bedrock nature of space… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
When scientists are asked what they are working on, their response is seldom 'Finding the origin of the universe' or 'Seeking to cure cancer.'… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
“The Sun contains about a thousand times more mass than Jupiter. If it were cold, gravity would squeeze it a million times denser than… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
“We, and the visible universe around us, may exist only because of a difference in the ninth decimal place between the numbers of quarks… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
Crucial to science education is hands-on involvement: showing, not just telling; real experiments and field trips and not just 'virtual reality.' — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
I have no religious belief myself, but I don't think we should fight about it. In particular, I think that we should not rubbish… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
“More energy is needed to rise a millimetre above a neutron star's surface than to break completely free of Earth's gravity. A pen dropped… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
The next humans to walk on the moon may be Chinese. Only China seems to have the resources, the dirigiste government, and the willingness… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
If we ever established contact with intelligent life on another world, there would be barriers to communication. First, they would be many light years… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
There is an ever-widening gap between what science allows and what we should actually do. There are many doors science can open that should… — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
An insect is more complex than a star..and is a far greater challenge to understand. — Martin Rees Copy Share Image
