Whenever members of Congress suggest cutting the funding for pure science and putting the savings into applied science, warn them it’s very likely foolish. Applied science is evolutionary, pure science is revolutionary, and usually the greatest progress comes from revolutions. J. J. Thompson explains:
This example illustrates the differences in the effects which may be produced by research in pure and applied science. A research on the lines of applied science would doubtless have led to improvement and development of the older methods — the research in pure science has given us an entirely new and much more powerful method. In fact, research in applied science leads to reforms, research in pure science leads to revolutions, and revolutions, whether political or industrial, are exceedingly profitable things if you are on the winning side.
(Quoted from page 742 of Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists. CRC Press, 2009.)
For a brief biography of Joseph John (J. J.) Thompson, click here. For images of or relating J. J. Thompson, click here.
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