It is the most persistent and greatest adventure
in human history, this search to understand the universe,
how it works and where it came from.
It is difficult to imagine that a handful of residents of a small planet
circling an insignificant star in a small galaxy
have as their aim a complete understanding of the entire universe.
a small speck of creation truly believing it is capable
of comprehending the whole.
Murray Gell-Mann
Nobel prize, physics 1969