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There is a great quote from 1906 by J.J. Thomson (discoverer of the electron, that atoms have isotopes, etc.) on the funding of research: "If you pay a man a s
by semi-extrinsic 10y ago
There is a great quote from 1906 by J.J. Thomson (discoverer of the electron, that atoms have isotopes, etc.) on the funding of research:
"If you pay a man a salary for doing research, he and you will want to have something to point to at the end of the year to show that the money has not been wasted. In promising work of the highest class, however, results do no come in this regular fashion, in fact years may pass without any tangible result being obtained, and the position of the paid worker would be very embarrassing and he would naturally take to work on a lower, or at any rate a different plane where he could be sure of getting year by year tangible results which would justify his salary. The position is this: You want one kind of research, but, if you pay a man to do it, it will drive him to research of a different kind. The only thing to do is to pay him for doing something else and give him enough leisure to do research for the love of it."
- thebooktocome 10y agoThis is the job I have now, and believe me, not having to research for a living is so liberating.
- konschubert 10y agoFeynman mentions that giving lectures was very liberating to him because it made him feel useful when he wasn't making any progress with the research.
- Spooky23 10y agoIt's a valid POV, but consider all of these advances made without these salarymen. Where would we be in the computer industry is the university of California and others didn't get DARPA and other funding to do their work on Unix. Ditto Bell Labs.
- kobeya 10y agoThe old-school research parks like Bell Labs, Xerox Parc, Microsoft Research, etc. actually reinforce the GP's point. The researchers at these places were given a LOT of "leisure time" AKA free reign to choose their projects. Not unlike 20% time in the glory days of Google. A viable counter-point might be the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, AKA where senior scientists like Einstein go to live out their days in leisure without contributing anything of value.