This Famous Physics Experiment Shows Why the Government Should Support ‘Useless’ Science
1 min read
Summary
Scientists could be accused of conducting research that has no real-world application, but sometimes such work produces unexpected results that end up being extremely valuable.
A famous example is German physicist Heinrich Hertz’s 1888 experiments to prove the theories of Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell, which effectively created the first radio transmitter.
This led to the development of radio, radar, lidar, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more, proving the science was useful.
The development of a particle accelerator in Desden, Germany, led to the discovery of the relatively unknown element technetium and a new medical imaging system, both of which were extremely useful.
Science can sometimes be trivial, occasionally costly and even incorrect, but it should continue to be explored to expand human knowledge.
