VALUE OF PURE SCIENCE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 102, 27 October 1925, Page 4

VALUE OF PURE SCIENCE

The remarks of Sir Ernest Rutherford upon the value of pure science, should be carefully noted by educationists, politicians, and others who have it in their-.power to assist research. The public does not now expect the scientists to produce the Elixir of Life or the Philosopher's Stone, though it still attaches great importance to rejuvenation by gland-grafting operations. But the modern chemist or physicist has still the same problem to contend with that worried, the old alchemist, lie is expected to discover something of immediate and great practical benefit. While the. world itselE is ready to give the scientist the honour which is his due, the politicians do not always display similar discernment of relative values. They are prone to expect at least twenty shillings in the pound for the funds which they grant for research, or, better still, twenty pounds in the pound. Ultimately this dividend is i^aid handsomely, but it is rarely to be had immediately. Long years of labour in the Held of pure science usually precede the practical application of discoveries. Even practical research directed to the solution of a specific problem must work upon the basis provided by pure science. The worker in pure science seeks only to add to the sum of human I knowledge, reckoning everything of importance which increases the volume of truth. He knows that even the smallest facts will ultimately be found to fit into a revelation of great worth to humanity. Mir Ernest Rutherford's reference to Faraday's electrical discoV9i'k>B illustrates (lie, point. When 'Faraday worked in his laboratory he was not seeking a, new form of miei'gy which would revolnl.ioniso industry and life, and the practical importance of his researches was not realised by the popular world for many years. Science is the same to-day. It must bo allowed to work in its own way. Research which is limited to immediate practical problems is hobbled and haltered and can make litfclo progress,..