An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: What does happen is that the opponents gradually die out.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that new and important scientific ideas don't usually become accepted over time by convincing the people who disagree with them. Instead, the people who don't accept the new ideas eventually stop being important, either by retiring or passing away, and the new ideas then become widely accepted.
About Max Planck
Max Planck was a German physicist who discovered energy quanta, winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. He is known for the Planck constant, which is fundamental to quantum physics, and the Planck units. Planck was twice the president of the German scientific institution that was later renamed the Max Planck Society, which now includes 83 institutions.
More quotes from Max Planck
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
Anybody who has been seriously engaged is scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: ‘Ye must have faith.’
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
Ego is the immediate dictate of human consciousness.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: What does happen is that the opponents gradually die out.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up until now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force… We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
Whence come I and whither go I? That is the great unfathomable question, the same for every one of us. Science has no answer to it.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge have been achieved only by those who have gone in pursuit of it without any practical purpose whatsoever in view.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.
German theoretical physicist (1858-1947)