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A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus on the most identifiable and urgent problems, right? Actually, it doesn't. In his classic essay "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge," Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips.
About the author
Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) was the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world's leading institutions for basic research in the sciences and humanities.
Robbert Dijkgraaf, a mathematical physicist who specializes in string theory, is director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. A distinguished public policy adviser and passionate advocate for science and the arts, he is also the cochair of the InterAcademy Council, a global alliance of science academies, and former president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Summary
"Original essay 'The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge' copyright A1939 by Harper's Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduced from the October issue by special permission"--Title page verso.
Additional text
"Commendably well-written, Flexner’s manifesto is interesting and thought-provoking in an ample variety of ways."---Íñigo Ongay de Felipe, Science and Education
Report
"Flexner and Dijkgraaf argue that basic research--driven by curiosity, freedom, and imagination--is a proven and essential seed for the revolutionary technologies that fuel the economy, transform society, and provide solutions for the worlds problems. A thoughtful appeal for long-term thinking in a time full of short-term distractions."--Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc.
