Quote by Max Plank. What does this mean to you?

Question

"Science is the never ending search for facts which may never be quite understood and only apprehended by the poetic intuition."
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Put your thinking caps on and give me something sincere. No wise cracks or answers that actually say, "I don't get it, so I'll leave a silly remark as if I don't care about what it means."

Answer 1

First of all, Sid, I don't know where you came up with the facts to back your statement, but Max Planck was no "close friend of Adolph Hitler." In fact, he was criticized by the Nazi regime for discussing and teaching the theories of Albert Einstein. He was derisively referred to as a "white Jew" for having done so, and was investigated by the Nazi government to determine whether he was, in fact, a Jew. I would like to see your sources.

As for the quote, I believe what Planck was saying is that science, and scientific methods (especially reason, mathematics, observation and experimentation), can only take us so far in understanding the inscrutable mysteries of the universe that surrounds us; and that the most comprehensible explanations for these mysteries may actually come from the most unscientific of sources: specifically the "gut," also known as intuition, a "sense" that something is true.

I hope this is helpful.


EDIT:

Wow...talk about timing! Here is a link to an article in the latest edition of Newsweek on this very subject!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71514/page/1

Note the nexus to the Max Planck Institute referenced in the article. Weird!

Answer 2

science is the endless discovery of information about something eg. an object or theory. 'which may never be understood' probably directs the quote to 'why does this happen? how did it happen? who made it? when was it created?' etc.
i'm guessing that 'only apprehended by the poetic intuition' probably means that it is summarised and conveyed to people so that they can get a better understanding of it.
how?
one meaning can have from 1 word to approximately 50 words to it- so that probably explains the ease of apprehension

i hope this helps, or at least, that i'm near to being right lol
=]

Answer 3

You are asking about the same Max Plank who was a close friend of Adolf Hitler. The Physicist?