The World as I See It [1950]

Science has had two opposite kinds of effects upon our view of man and his place in the universe. On the one hand it has immensely increased our power in regard to anything near the surface of the earth; on the other hand it has enlarged our conception of the size and age of the universe beyond anything imagined in pre-scientific times. There is a great deal of matter in the universe, but there is a great deal more of empty space. The nearest of the fixed stars is at a distance of about four light years from us, which comes in miles to twenty-five million millions. The most astonishing thing about the progress of science is its rapidity. It is thought that the earth has existed for about three thousand million years, and that life began about seventeen hundred million years ago, mammals about sixty million years ago, anthropoid apes about ten million, and man about one million.