John Ziman (May 16, 1925 – January 2, 2005) was a scientist, and later a philosopher specialising in the philosophy of science.

Quotes

• ...the 'size' of science has doubled steadily every 15 years. In a century this means a factor of 100. For every single scientific paper or for every single scientist in 1670, there were 100 in 1770, 10,000 in 1870 and 1,000,000 in 1970.
  • John M. Ziman (1976). The Force of Knowledge: The Scientific Dimension of Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 56-57. ISBN 0-521-09917-X. 

• A new scientific theory is seldom stated with such clarity by its original author, and usually takes many years to creep into public conciousness.
  • John M. Ziman (1976). The Force of Knowledge: The Scientific Dimension of Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-521-09917-X. 

• The communication of modern science to the ordinary citizen, necessary, important, desirable as it is, cannot be considered an easy task. The prime obstacle is lack of education. … There is also the difficulty of making scientific discoveries interesting and exciting without completely degrading them intellectually. … It is a weakness of modern science that the scientist shrinks from this sort of publicity, and thus gives an impression of arrogant mystagoguery.
  • John M. Ziman (1976). The Force of Knowledge: The Scientific Dimension of Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-521-09917-X. 

• Ethics is not just an abstract intellectual discipline. It is about the conflicts that arise in trying to meet real human needs and values.
  • Ziman, John M. "Why must scientists become more ethically sensitive than they used to be?", Science, December 4, 1998.

External links

• Obituary
• John Ziman Bibliography, compiled by Michael Berry