Inspiration

Last night I heard a commentator on NPR's Marketplace say in almost the same breath that funding basic research doesn't help the economy and that our schools need to produce more scientists and engineers. Does...not...compute....

Does he think that people major in physics because they have a burning desire to, say, improve the way nuclear well-logging is done? It's true that a degree in science or engineering can lead to a good job, but in my experience most people major in science because it's cool. Launching probes that fall into the atmosphere of one of Saturn's moons is cool. Building colliders that make antimatter is cool. Discovering superfluid He-3 is cool. Research like this may not help the economy directly, but it is crucial to the economy because it inspires people to go into science and engineering in the first place.