Opinion: We must not limit the scope of scientific research
SEP 23, 2008
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.022713
The Guardian : Martin Rees responds to former UK science adviser David King’s suggestion that the UK should cut back on space research and basic physics in order to focus on more immediate issues such as climate change. Such a shift in research would be misguided says Rees.
But it is mistaken to claim that global problems will be solved more quickly if only researchers would abandon their quest to understand the universe and knuckle down to work on an agenda of public or political concerns. These are not “either/or” options â indeed, there is a positive symbiosis between them.We need basic, fundamental research for a whole raft of reasons. It is the bedrock on which technology is based. But its applications can’t be foreseen, even by the pioneers who open up new fields â not even by people of the calibre of great pioneers like Faraday or Rutherford.
© 2008 American Institute of Physics
