To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.
Source: In Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, ed. Jason Shulman & Isaac Asimov, 1988.
-- Humphrey Davy, (Dec 17 1778-1829), English chemist; He discovered laughing gas, 1799 as well as calcium and sodium; invented miner's safety lamp, 1815.