# Did Carl Sagan say "a physicist is a hydrogen atom's way of learning about hydrogen atoms"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380 "2025-05-14T23:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/1 "2025-05-14T23:31:33Z")
Physicist Brian Cox quoted the beautiful aforementioned phrase on Colbert’s show, attributing it to Carl Sagan. Googling it yielded few results but they seem to be all quoting Brian Cox quoting Carl Sagan. Did Sagan really say it? I mean, it’s Brian Cox. He doesn’t seem the type to traffic in apocryphal quotes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qIDs-VTCaNU/maxresdefault.jpg ""It's A Remarkable Thing, To Be A Human Being" - Prof. Brian Cox") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIDs-VTCaNU&t=425) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/2 "2025-05-14T23:36:11Z")
Sounds a bit like Samuel Butler: “A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/3 "2025-05-14T23:36:16Z")
George Wald said the very similar “A physicist is the atom’s way of knowing about atoms” in a lecture he gave in the 1980s (apparently at several locations). [George Wald: Life and Mind in the Universe](https://www.elijahwald.com/lifeandmind.html) The first law of quotes is that they will be attributed to the most famous plausible person - and Sagan trumps Wald. ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/4 "2025-05-15T00:38:53Z")
Ah, indeed. I suspected as much. It’s sort of a Goliath effect for quotes. Still, it’s a lovely sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/5 "2025-05-16T11:36:49Z")
Sagan did famously say [“We are a way for the universe to know itself,”](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Shores_of_the_Cosmic_Ocean_%5BEpisode_1%5D) which expresses much the same sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/6 "2025-05-17T06:49:51Z")
“ The first law of quotes is that they will be attributed to the most famous plausible person” - Oscar Wilde ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-carl-sagan-say-a-physicist-is-a-hydrogen-atoms-way-of-learning-about-hydrogen-atoms/1018380/7 "2025-05-20T03:48:09Z")
In [this](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/127931750/professor-brian-cox-travels-across-the-universe-in-new-series) article from 2022 he credits Richard Feynman. He does indeed traffic in apocryphal quotes, it seems. It’s funny that he gives credit elsewhere when it might be a Brian Cox original. There’s probably a term for an original phrase presented as a quote. Does anybody know that? I wonder who’s quote it’s going to be next time he’s promoting something.