Science Quote by Saul Perlmutter

Perlmutter turns a nerdy sensation - being “boggled” - into a serious aesthetic, then refuses to let it drift into mysticism. The opening is almost mischievous: you want to be shocked, because cognitive vertigo feels good. It’s a quiet admission that scientists aren’t pure logic machines; they’re thrill-seekers with lab notebooks. The subtext is an argument against the caricature of science as dry, joyless bookkeeping. Wonder isn’t a byproduct of the work. It’s part of the engine.

Then comes the corrective: the best kind of mind-boggling is the kind you can “demonstrate is really, really true.” That double “really” reads like a scientist catching himself being poetic and then snapping back to discipline. Perlmutter is drawing a bright line between the pleasures of being dazzled by a story and the deeper satisfaction of being dazzled by reality itself. He’s defending rigor not as a killjoy, but as the upgrade that makes awe durable.

Context matters: Perlmutter helped discover the accelerating expansion of the universe, a result that didn’t just surprise people; it re-ordered the cosmological furniture and helped usher “dark energy” into the mainstream. In that world, “boggled” isn’t a cute metaphor. It’s the appropriate human response to data that forces you to revise your sense of what’s possible. The intent is recruitment by honesty: come for the shock, stay for the proof.