Martin Rees Quotes

It probably helps that my background is in the sciences and I can speak the scientists' language.

I really don't think of myself as a science writer.

All writers are going to have to learn more about science, because it's such an interesting part of their environment.

If scientists could communicate more in their own voices - in a familiar tone, with a less specialized vocabulary - would a wide range of people understand them better? Would their work be better understood by the general public, policy-makers, funders, and, even in some cases, other scientists?

My first published writings were trying to take scientific concepts and make them clear for a general audience.

Through basic science literacy, people can understand the policy choices we need to be making. Scientists are not necessarily the greatest communicators, but science and communication is one of the fundamentals we need to address. People are interested.

I would say it's important for scientists to speak out when they can and when they can be listened to.

Over the last 25 years, since a lot of science writing became accessible to layman, I've become quite a consumer of science. As a child, I wasn't streamed into science, and I regret that now.

People are interested in science, but they don't always know they're interested in science, and so I try to find a way to get them interested.

The simplest and cheapest of all reforms within institutional science is to switch from the passive to the active voice in writing about science.

I vowed to myself that when I grew up and became a theoretical physicist, in addition to doing research, I would write books that I would have liked to have read as a child. So whenever I write, I imagine myself, as a youth, reading my books, being thrilled by the incredible advances being made in physics and science.

The people who work in the scientific field, they need help to convey what it's about.

My scientific qualifications are relatively scant. I like science. I try really hard to educate myself about it, but in the end, if something has to go 'boom,' and it would probably only go 'fwoosh,' I am relatively unconcerned about that, which is a sin, but not, I think, a grave one.

The time has come when scientific truth must cease to be the property of the few, when it must be woven into the common life of the world.

Scientific concepts sometimes elude the vast majority of elected officials.

Science coverage could be improved by the recognition that science is timeless, and therefore science stories should not need to be pegged to an item in the news.

Scientists aren't necessarily good communicators, because they aren't trained to be good communicators.

Scientists are not necessarily the best communicators.

Scientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this fact.

You have people who believe they are scientifically literate but, in fact, are not. And I don't mind if you're not scientifically literate, but just admit that to yourself, so that you'll know, and perhaps you can take a first step to try to eradicate that.

Contrary to widespread belief, I do know something about science.

Unfortunately, science cannot be reduced to short, catchy phrases. And if this is all that the general public can comprehend, it's no wonder that we spend so much of our time in the interminable debate about belief in God, or lack thereof.

Science is far from the center of the world for most people: even for many with highly sophisticated tastes, interests, and accomplishments.

I've been thinking about the distorted view of science that prevails in our culture. I've been wondering about this, because our civilization is completely dependent on science and high technology, yet most of us are alienated from science.

Science is you! It's your head, it's your dog, it's your iPhone - it's the world. How do you see that as boring? If it's boring, it's because you're learning it from a textbook.