What benefits does science provide? This is often the query posed by those who finance research, but not typically by those engaged in conducting it. Currently, this conflict is quite pronounced in the U.S., where the Trump administration is wielding an axe against the scientific community. However, this issue is nothing new.
In 1969, when Robert Wilson appeared before the U.S. Congress to seek financial support for constructing a new particle accelerator at Fermilab, he addressed their queries about whether this research project could bolster national defense or aid in competing against Russia amid the Cold War tensions. His response was: “This work does not have anything to do with warfare… Instead, it pertains to questions like—are we accomplished artists, skilled craftsmen, profound writers? … While it doesn’t directly fortify our nation’s security, it serves to enhance what makes our country worthy of protection.”
The utilitarian view always misses that so many of the biggest and most important discoveries come from the unobstructed pursuit of knowledge. And the line from discovery to application to return on investment is rarely a straight one. Without Albert Einstein musing in the early 20th century on the weightlessness felt by a person in freefall inside an elevator, we wouldn't have his theories of relativity and we wouldn't have GPS – a technology that has revolutionised life around the world.
Predicting where entirely theoretical research might take us is uncertain, making the undermining of science in America particularly shortsighted. However, it’s far simpler to anticipate the harm caused by reduced financial support. Eliminating programs aimed at treating and preventing diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS will result in unnecessary illnesses and deaths. Reductions in funding for NASA projects, such as crucial investigations into severe heat waves and air quality issues, could have repercussions lasting many years, if not generations ("Are Trump's cuts to science the end of the endless frontier?" offers insight).
Following physicist J.J. Thomson’s discovery of the electron in 1897, he notoriously remarked that it had no practical use. This marked the beginning of the electrical era, which brought about unprecedented worldwide advancements over a hundred years thanks to this unassuming subatomic particle. So, what groundbreaking epoch might be currently hindered from taking place?