--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Physicists are notoriously scornful of…" description: "\"“Physicists are notoriously scornful of scientists from other fields. When the great Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s wife left him for a chemist, h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7a/bill-bryson-340_physicist_physicists-are-notoriously-scornful-of-s_1098921.png" --- # Physicists are notoriously scornful of scientists from… ![“Physicists are notoriously scornful of scientists from other fields. When the great Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s wife left him for a chemist, he was staggered with disbelief. ‘Had she taken a bullfighter13 I would have understood,’ he remarked in wonder to a friend. ‘But a chemist …” quote by Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7a/bill-bryson-340_physicist_physicists-are-notoriously-scornful-of-s_1098921.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7a/bill-bryson-340_physicist_physicists-are-notoriously-scornful-of-s_1098921.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7a/bill-bryson-340_physicist_physicists-are-notoriously-scornful-of-s_1098921.png) > ““Physicists are notoriously scornful of scientists from other fields. When the great Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s wife left him for a chemist, he was staggered with disbelief. ‘Had she taken a bullfighter13 I would have understood,’ he remarked in wonder to a friend. ‘But a chemist …”” [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Scientists often dismiss other disciplines; humor reveals the absurdity of such bias. **In simple terms:** Scientists can be snobbish about other fields. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge interdisciplinary prejudice. Themes science bias humor interdisciplinary skepticism Mood playful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic conferences - research collaborations - public science communication - education curricula Key Concepts Cognitive bias social identity intellectual humility Questions to Reflect On - Why do experts resist ideas from other fields? - How can humor foster interdisciplinary respect? A Different Perspective Humor may downplay real barriers to collaboration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Austrian Physicist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austrian-physicist-2880209/) [Physicist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicist/) [Physicists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicists/) [Physicists Notoriously](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicists-notoriously-2880208/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scornful Scientists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scornful-scientists-2880207/) ## Related quotes > [Physicists are atoms' way of thinking about atoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/physicists-are-atoms-way-of-thinking-about-atoms/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Physicists analyse systems. Web scientists, however, can create the systems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/physicists-analyse-systems-web-scientists-however-can-create-the/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [Physicists have yet to understand why the Higgs boson's mass is what it is,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-randall/physicists-have-yet-to-understand-why-the-higgs-boson-s-mass-is-what/) [Lisa Randall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-randall/) > [The content of physics is the concern of physicists, its effect the concern of all men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-d-rrenmatt/the-content-of-physics-is-the-concern-of-physicists-its-effect-the/) [Friedrich Durrenmatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-d-rrenmatt/) > [I still can't figure out what inspired me to do physics. But since I was nine or ten years old, I wanted to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/i-still-can-t-figure-out-what-inspired-me-to-do-physics-but-since-i/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [We must be physicists in order to be creative since so far codes of values and ideals have been constructed in ignorance of physics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-must-be-physicists-in-order-to-be-creative-since-so-far-codes-of/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree. But people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/everything-starts-somewhere-though-many-physicists-disagree-but/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Our relationships as experimentalists with theoretical physicists should be like those with a beautiful woman - we should accept with gratitude any favours she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-artsimovich/our-relationships-as-experimentalists-with-theoretical-physicists/) [Lev Artsimovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-artsimovich/) > [While their methods differ radically, artists and physicists share the desire to investigate the ways the interlocking pieces of reality fit together. This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/while-their-methods-differ-radically-artists-and-physicists-share-the/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [All professionals, whether physicists, economists or musicians, live by and for peer judgment, even when they are being paid by people who cannot tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/all-professionals-whether-physicists-economists-or-musicians-live-by/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [The chemists work with inaccurate and poor measuring services, but they employ very good materials. The physicists, on the other hand, use excellent methods…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-ostwald/the-chemists-work-with-inaccurate-and-poor-measuring-services-but/) [Wolfgang Ostwald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-ostwald/) > [By having simplified what is known, physicists have been led into realms which as yet are anything but simple. That at some time, they,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-teller/by-having-simplified-what-is-known-physicists-have-been-led-into/) [Edward Teller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-teller/) > [ \[on what characteristics Nobel prize winning physicists had in common\] I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enrico-fermi/on-what-characteristics-nobel-prize-winning-physicists-had-in-common/) [Enrico Fermi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enrico-fermi/) > [In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edsger-dijkstra/in-the-good-old-days-physicists-repeated-each-other-s-experiments/) [Edsger Dijkstra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edsger-dijkstra/) > [It is quite true that many scientists, many physicists, maintain that the physical constants, the half dozen or so numbers that physicists have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-is-quite-true-that-many-scientists-many-physicists-maintain-that/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## More by Bill Bryson > [Most big companies don't like you very much, except hotels, airlines and Microsoft, which don't like you at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/most-big-companies-don-t-like-you-very-much-except-hotels-airlines/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“But Welsh spellings are as nothing compared with Irish Gaelic, a language in which spelling and pronunciation give the impression of having been devised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/but-welsh-spellings-are-as-nothing-compared-with-irish-gaelic-a/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“Pantaloons were often worn tight as paint and were not a great deal less revealing, particularly as they were worn without underwear. . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/pantaloons-were-often-worn-tight-as-paint-and-were-not-a-great-deal/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [If you go out on the Appalachian Trail, you have to bring so much more equipment - a tent, sleeping bag - but if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/if-you-go-out-on-the-appalachian-trail-you-have-to-bring-so-much-more/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“The dining table was a plain board called by that name. 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For 93 percent of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/every-twenty-minutes-on-the-appalachian-trail-katz-and-i-walked/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“A diarist named George Templeton Strong recorded in the winter of 1866 that even with two furnaces alight and all the fireplaces blazing, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/a-diarist-named-george-templeton-strong-recorded-in-the-winter-of/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/tune-your-television-to-any-channel-it-doesn-t-receive-and-about-1/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [As a rule of thumb, I would submit that if you need to call your floss provider, for any reason, you are probably not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/as-a-rule-of-thumb-i-would-submit-that-if-you-need-to-call-your-floss/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Nobody gets excited about the future at all, ever. The future is something we find depressing and worrisome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/nobody-gets-excited-about-the-future-at-all-ever-the-future-is/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“What made this particularly interesting is that John Howard is by far the dullest man in Australia. Imagine a very committed funeral home director…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/what-made-this-particularly-interesting-is-that-john-howard-is-by-far/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [I would make a genuinely terrible guide. I can't remember things. I would get half way through telling a story or explaining something and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/i-would-make-a-genuinely-terrible-guide-i-can-t-remember-things-i/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“In the mystifying world that was Victorian parenthood, obedience took precedence over all considerations of affection and happiness, and that odd, painful conviction remained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/in-the-mystifying-world-that-was-victorian-parenthood-obedience-took/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-and by 'we' I mean every living thing. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/if-this-book-has-a-lesson-it-is-that-we-are-awfully-lucky-to-be-here/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) [Explore all 656 Bill Bryson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) ## More Physicist quotes > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) > [Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth. It is a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-eddington/observation-and-theory-get-on-best-when-they-are-mixed-together-both/) [Arthur Eddington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-eddington/) > [For a physicist mathematics is not just a tool by means of which phenomena can be calculated, it is the main source of concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/for-a-physicist-mathematics-is-not-just-a-tool-by-means-of-which/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [Physicists analyse systems. Web scientists, however, can create the systems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/physicists-analyse-systems-web-scientists-however-can-create-the/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [All professionals, whether physicists, economists or musicians, live by and for peer judgment, even when they are being paid by people who cannot tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/all-professionals-whether-physicists-economists-or-musicians-live-by/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Physicists have yet to understand why the Higgs boson's mass is what it is,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-randall/physicists-have-yet-to-understand-why-the-higgs-boson-s-mass-is-what/) [Lisa Randall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-randall/) > [Actually, I was more or less determined to be a theoretical physicist at the age of thirteen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gross/actually-i-was-more-or-less-determined-to-be-a-theoretical-physicist/) [David Gross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gross/) > [In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edsger-dijkstra/in-the-good-old-days-physicists-repeated-each-other-s-experiments/) [Edsger Dijkstra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edsger-dijkstra/) > [We want no dictatorship of physicists, as physicists. If our democracy is to realize its full promise, we want no dictatorship at all -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-frank/we-want-no-dictatorship-of-physicists-as-physicists-if-our-democracy/) [Jerome Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-frank/) > [Can a physicist visualize an electron? The electron is materially inconceivable and yet, it is so perfectly known through its effects that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wernher-von-braun/can-a-physicist-visualize-an-electron-the-electron-is-materially/) [Wernher von Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wernher-von-braun/) > [ \[on what characteristics Nobel prize winning physicists had in common\] I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enrico-fermi/on-what-characteristics-nobel-prize-winning-physicists-had-in-common/) [Enrico Fermi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enrico-fermi/) > [Steven Hawking is a brilliant physicist and when it comes to theology I can say he's a brilliant physicist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-consolmagno/steven-hawking-is-a-brilliant-physicist-and-when-it-comes-to-theology/) [Guy Consolmagno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-consolmagno/) > [I assume the same problem exists in Australia as in America of back-biting and jealousy and parochialism among disciplines - there are the scientists,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lewontin/i-assume-the-same-problem-exists-in-australia-as-in-america-of-back/) [Richard Lewontin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-lewontin/) > [The mathematical forms of order which the mind of a physicist manipulates coincides "miraculously" with experimental measurements.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-louise-von-franz/the-mathematical-forms-of-order-which-the-mind-of-a-physicist/) [Marie-Louise von Franz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-louise-von-franz/) > [What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists in spite of its going against the principle of simplicity is its great mathematical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-dirac/what-makes-the-theory-of-relativity-so-acceptable-to-physicists-in/) [Paul Dirac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-dirac/) [Browse all 458 Physicist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Physicists are notoriously scornful of scientists from other fields. 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