Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:06:23 -0400
From: "Richard P. Feynman" <rpf@example.com>
Subject: atoms
To: "Democritus" <demo@example.com>
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If, in some cataclysm, all scientific knowledge were to be destroyed,
and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures,
what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?
I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or atomic fact, or whatever you
wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms — little particles
that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they
are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into
one another. In that one sentence you will see an enormous amount of
information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking
are applied.
