--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I therefore take the liberty of proposing…" description: "\"I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this hypothetical new atom, which is not light but plays an essential part in every process of radiation,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/gilbert-n-lewis-54090_atoms_i-therefore-take-the-liberty-of-proposin_1798443.jpg" --- # I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this… ![“I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this hypothetical new atom, which is not light but plays an essential part in every process of radiation, the name photon.” quote by Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/gilbert-n-lewis-54090_atoms_i-therefore-take-the-liberty-of-proposin_1798443.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/gilbert-n-lewis-54090_atoms_i-therefore-take-the-liberty-of-proposin_1798443.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/gilbert-n-lewis-54090_atoms_i-therefore-take-the-liberty-of-proposin_1798443.jpg) > “I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this hypothetical new atom, which is not light but plays an essential part in every process of radiation, the name photon.” [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He coined “photon” to describe a particle of light essential to radiation processes. **In simple terms:** Named the light particle photon. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of naming in science. Themes science discovery language Mood informative reflective Type historical educational When to use this quote - teaching - research - public outreach - science communication Key Concepts physics quantum theory Questions to Reflect On - Why is naming important in scientific progress? - How does terminology shape understanding? A Different Perspective Naming may oversimplify complex phenomena. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atom Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atom-light-2009576/) [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Essentials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/essentials/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Hypothetical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypothetical/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Liberty Proposing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty-proposing-2009577/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [New Atom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-atom-2009574/) [Photon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photon/) [Photons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photons/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Radiation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radiation/) [Radiation Photon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radiation-photon-2009575/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) ## Related quotes > [The Heart of Gold fled on silently through the night of space, now on conventional photon drive. Its crew of four were ill as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-heart-of-gold-fled-on-silently-through-the-night-of-space-now-on/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [Light is something like raindrops each little lump of light is called a photon and if the light is all one color, all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/light-is-something-like-raindrops-each-little-lump-of-light-is-called/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) > [Photons come out of nowhere, they cannot be stored, they can barely be pinned down in time, and they have no home in space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/photons-come-out-of-nowhere-they-cannot-be-stored-they-can-barely-be/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“The photon itself, the carrier of the electromagnetic interaction, is electrically neutral. That means all interactions among photons proceed through the mediation of other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henning-genz/the-photon-itself-the-carrier-of-the-electromagnetic-interaction-is/) [Henning Genz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henning-genz/) > [There are photons that have been traveling for 30,000 years, and I'm... snatching them from this journey and planting them into my digital detector.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/there-are-photons-that-have-been-traveling-for-30-000-years-and-i-m/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Information is the new atom or electron, the fundamental building block of the universe ... We now see the world as entirely made of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-appleyard/information-is-the-new-atom-or-electron-the-fundamental-building/) [Bryan Appleyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-appleyard/) > [“The wave quality of light is the same as that of the electron. The wave determines the probable location of the photon of light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-du-sautoy/the-wave-quality-of-light-is-the-same-as-that-of-the-electron-the/) [Marcus du Sautoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-du-sautoy/) > [If we have an atom that is in an excited state and so is going to emit a photon, we cannot say when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/if-we-have-an-atom-that-is-in-an-excited-state-and-so-is-going-to/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) > [“Every photon you’ve ever seen, from the sun, from a screen, from a candle in a temple, was emitted by the same electron, transitioning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timur-naimat/every-photon-you-ve-ever-seen-from-the-sun-from-a-screen-from-a/) [Timur Naimat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timur-naimat/) > [“The stars glittered through the atmosphere, and he thought of the distances that light must take to hit his eye at exactly that moment.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomm-quackenbush/the-stars-glittered-through-the-atmosphere-and-he-thought-of-the/) [Thomm Quackenbush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomm-quackenbush/) > [“It's so black a photon needs a good lawyer to get out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/del-herring/it-s-so-black-a-photon-needs-a-good-lawyer-to-get-out/) [Del Herring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/del-herring/) > [“The ordinary photon is a member of the boson family.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/the-ordinary-photon-is-a-member-of-the-boson-family/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“in experimental quantum mechanics we have run right up against what was previously perceived to be a purely philosophical barrier. The experiments are telling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-baggott/in-experimental-quantum-mechanics-we-have-run-right-up-against-what/) [Jim Baggott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-baggott/) > [Ordinary photons do have spin, they have a notion of helicity so they spin around their direction on motion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-penrose/ordinary-photons-do-have-spin-they-have-a-notion-of-helicity-so-they/) [Roger Penrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-penrose/) > [“Electrons and photons are still worse. In graduate school I roomed for a time with a particle physicist. He ended one attempt to explain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-vogel/electrons-and-photons-are-still-worse-in-graduate-school-i-roomed-for/) [Steven Vogel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-vogel/) ## More by Gilbert N. Lewis > [There is always the danger in scientific work that some word or phrase will be used by different authors to express so many ideas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-n-lewis/there-is-always-the-danger-in-scientific-work-that-some-word-or/) [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) > [The scientist is a practical man and his are practical (i.e., practically attainable) aims. He does not seek the ultimate but the proximate. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-n-lewis/the-scientist-is-a-practical-man-and-his-are-practical-i-e/) [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) > [It was not easy for a person brought up in the ways of classical thermodynamics to come around to the idea that gain of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-n-lewis/it-was-not-easy-for-a-person-brought-up-in-the-ways-of-classical/) [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) > [I take it that a monograph of this sort belongs to the ephemera literature of science. The studied care which is warranted in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-n-lewis/i-take-it-that-a-monograph-of-this-sort-belongs-to-the-ephemera/) [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) > [A detective with his murder mystery, a chemist seeking the structure of a new compound, use little of the formal and logical modes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-n-lewis/a-detective-with-his-murder-mystery-a-chemist-seeking-the-structure/) [Gilbert N. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) [Explore all 6 Gilbert N. Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-n-lewis/) ## More Atoms quotes > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) [Giulio Natta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giulio-natta/) > [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/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [A monkey is unaware that atoms exist. Likewise, our brainpower may not stretch to the deepest aspects of reality. The bedrock nature of space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/a-monkey-is-unaware-that-atoms-exist-likewise-our-brainpower-may-not/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [ \[Decoding the human genome sequence\] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-collins/decoding-the-human-genome-sequence-is-the-most-significant/) [Francis Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-collins/) > [Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/though-an-atom-is-invisible-unthinkable-yet-in-it-are-the-whole-power/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-chase/traditional-nationalism-cannot-survive-the-fissioning-of-the-atom-one/) [Stuart Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stuart-chase/) > [I am not sure why, but I have been obsessed by the Atom Bomb ever since it first happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lanford-wilson/i-am-not-sure-why-but-i-have-been-obsessed-by-the-atom-bomb-ever/) [Lanford Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lanford-wilson/) > [History is the short trudge from Adam to atom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/history-is-the-short-trudge-from-adam-to-atom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The dogma of the impossibility of determining the atomic constitution of substances, which until recently was advocated with such fervor by the most able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-korner/the-dogma-of-the-impossibility-of-determining-the-atomic-constitution/) [Wilhelm Korner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-korner/) > [I have never seen what to me seemed an atom of proof that there is a future life. And yet-I am inclined to expect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-never-seen-what-to-me-seemed-an-atom-of-proof-that-there-is-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/weike-wang/an-atom-is-mostly-made-up-of-empty-space-if-you-remove-the-empty/) [Weike Wang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/weike-wang/) > [Nature is full of wonders; every atom is a standing miracle, and endowed with such qualities, as could not be impressed on it by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/nature-is-full-of-wonders-every-atom-is-a-standing-miracle-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [ “\[Think\] of an experience from your childhood. Something you remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even smell, as if you were really… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-grand/think-of-an-experience-from-your-childhood-something-you-remember/) [Steve Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-grand/) > [The books remind us that way down deep in our hearts, part of us knows that we are creatures of light and we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/the-books-remind-us-that-way-down-deep-in-our-hearts-part-of-us-knows/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) [Browse all 852 Atoms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this hypothetical new atom, which is not light but plays an essential part in every process of radiation, the name photon.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gilbert N. 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