Applied research, undertaken to solve specific practical problems, has an immediate attractiveness because the results can be se

Applied research, undertaken to solve specific practical problems, has an immediate attractiveness because the results can be seen and enjoyed. For practical reasons, the sums spent on applied research in any country always far exceed those for basic research, and the proportions are more unequal in the less developed countries. Leaving aside the funds devoted to research by industry—which is naturally far more concerned with applied aspects because these increase profits quickly—the funds the U.S Government allots to basic research currently amount to about 7 percent of its over-all research and development funds. Unless adequate safeguards are provided, applied research invariably tends to drive out basic research. Then, as Dr. Waterman has pointed out, “Development will invariably be undertaken prematurely, career incentives will gravitate strongly toward applied science, and the opportunities for making major scientific discoveries will be lost. Unfortunately, pressures to emphasize new developments, without corresponding emphasis upon pure science, tend to degrade the quality of the nation’s technology in the long run, rather than to improve it.”