As we reported in yesterday’s R&D Daily, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN produced its first particles on Aug. 22. I’ve been reporting on the LHC for several years now, and I have been greatly anticipating its going live ever since. The current date for the LHC to come online is Sept. 10, a mere 12 days away. I actually have this marked on my calendar, such is my level of excitement over this project. I know that there won’t be any immediate results from the initial turning on of the collider, but it will open a new and exciting era in physical science research.
Physical science research is on the decline. As reported in today’s R&D Daily, Bell Labs is pulling out of basic science research. Alcatel-Lucent announced that they were pulling out of basic science, materials science, and transistor research. But why are they pulling out now? Bell Labs brought us such innovations as the transistor and laser, and researchers from Bell Labs won six Nobel prizes in addition to 35+ R&D 100 Awards. It seems that the almighty dollar is winning out over basic fundamental research. According to a statement, Bell Labs will be “focusing on more immediately marketable areas such as networking, high-speed electronics, wireless, nanotechnology and software.” Translation: basic research doesn’t pay.
While I understand that corporations need to make money, I also believe that basic research is more valuable in the long run. Where would we be today without the integrated circuit? Was that invented by some guy who was trying to maximize return on investment in a project? I think not. That is yet another reason I am excited for the opening of the LHC: because it’s there for scientists to do research, not to make money. Science for science’s sake. That’s the way it should be.
