rosalind franklin

“ Your theories are those which you and many other people find easiest and pleasantest to believe, but so far as I can see, they have no foundation other than they leaf to a pleasanter view of life (and an exaggerated idea of our own importance). ”

“ But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. ”

“ In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining. ”

“ Science, for me, gives a partial explanation for life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment. ”

“ I see no reason to believe that a creator of protoplasm or primeval matter, if such there be, has any reason to be interested in our insignificant race in a tiny corner of the universe, and still less in us, as still more insignificant individuals. ”

“ I agree that faith is essential to success in life (success of any sort) but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e. belief in life after death. ”

“ You look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralizing invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separate from everyday existence. ”

“ Again, I see no reason why the belief that we are insignificant or fortuitous should lessen our faith. ”

“ I maintain that faith in this world is perfectly possible without faith in another world. ”

“ While the biological properties of deoxypentose nucleic acid suggest a molecular structure containing great complexity, X-ray diffraction studies described here...show the basic molecular configuration has great simplicity. ”