101 



SUPPLEMENT 4/77 



Some discussions of the differences between basic and applied research 

 suggest that the process must start with basic research in universities, which pro- 

 duces new ideas. In this view, private firms apply discoveries to practical problems 

 and use them to develop commercial products. Sometimes the discovery process 

 works this way, but often it does not. The flow of people, knowledge, and "know- 

 how" between publicly and privately funded research organizations goes both ways, 

 with different net flows at different times. The typical patterns differ among indus- 

 trial sectors and scientific disciplines; there is no one template for innovation. For 

 every case like that of information technology — where academic research in com- 

 puter science and engineering led to the creation of many new firms — one can 

 point to a counterexample like digital electronics, where the development of the 

 transistor in the private sector caused an expansion of solid-state physics in universi- 

 ties. Even when a clear distinction between basic and applied research can be 

 made, therefore, it is often not useful in guiding choices about whether it is a 

 proper subject for federal support. 



A more severe problem is that most federally funded research is at once both 

 applied and basic. In the standard definition, basic research is the pursuit of knowl- 

 edge without thought of practical application. The first part is true — that science is 

 intended to produce new discoveries — but the implication that this necessarily 

 entails a sharp separation from thoughts of usefulness is just plain wrong. Some- 

 times it is true, but far more often it is not, especially in science supported by 

 mission-oriented agencies. Basic optics is one of the oldest fields in physics. Thirty 

 or forty years ago, it was hard to see what applications it might have beyond lens 

 design for cameras and telescopes. With the unexpected discovery of the laser and 

 its application in fiber-optic communications, optics has turned out to be immensely 

 practical, and is essential to modem telecommunications networks. Louis Pasteur's 

 career was replete with contributions to basic biology as well as innovations in 

 medicine, beer brewing, wine making, and agriculture. Organic chemistry and 

 analytical chemistry have always been coupled to pharmaceuticals, specialty chemi- 

 cals, and other industrial interests. Basic materials science bears on electronics, 

 instrumentation, aeronautics, and many domains of manufacturing. Gregor Mendel 

 was studying how to improve crops when he discovered the basic laws of genetics, 

 and characterizing DNA's double helical structure in 1953 led 2 decades later to 

 practical applications through recombinant DNA technology, with impacts not only 

 on biomedical research but also on pharmaceutical manufacturing, agriculture, and 

 environmental remediation. The practical uses of applied research are generally 

 more obvious and direct, but basic research also can have foreseeable practical aims. 



"There are two kinds of research — applied research and not-yet-applied 

 research." Nobel laureate Lord Porter, former president of the Royal 

 Society." 



The federal responsibility for basic research is accepted widely. The large 

 social benefits that can come from federal support for specific kinds of applied 

 problem solving and exploratory development are not as well recognized. Histori- 



