I read this in a book from the 60s-70s, surely not 80s. But there was a version of the Lords Prayer adapted for Scientists.
Now, the normal Lords Prayer goes something like this:
Our Father, who art in Heaven etc.
But this one goes something like:
Oh Einstein/Aristotle/Socrates,
teach us so we may become Newton, Bohr, Keppler
don't lead us into temptation to falsify results
Hallowed be Einsteins name
In the name of Newton, Bohr, and Plato
etc. You catch my drift.
The two main characteristics:
- structured like the Lords Prayer
- name-dropping of well known scientists
Except for the last line, which might be in it with different names, these are not fragments of what was said, but more like APPROACHING what was in it, and I am fairly sure there was a lot of name-dropping of well known scientists going on.
It was written probably BEFORE or during the seventies, and I think it was one of the greats, like Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov himself, or someone from that era. Zelazny, probably not Heinlein.
But you know how it is with memories, you can think you remember it was this and that way, but then it's completely opposite. This happened to me a couple of times with films, so ...
Please help, I've been googling this question for many years now, so you might find this question elsewhere.
To over-clarify! I read this in a science fiction book, of course! Mentioning the authors would have made that clear, I guess. I like the old science fiction, before it became "SyFy". And Asimov, Clarke, etc., were such famous writers, people still make big Hollywood productions off of their books ...