Joseph E. Davis of the Hedgehog Review reflects on
The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University
Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by
current IAS Director Robbert
Dijkgraaf. Davis writes,...
Jean Worsley of the National Science Teachers Association
reviews The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton
University Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by
current IAS Director Robbert
Dijkgraaf...
By radically reducing the amount of scientific research U.S.
scientists can do, the president’s budget willfully ignores 400
years of thinking about innovation and knowledge—and seven decades
of the United States’ advantage in the world. “It’s like...
When we think of infrastructure, we tend to think of the
physical facilities and systems required for a country and its
economy to function and thrive—roads, bridges, tunnels, airports,
and railways as President Donald Trump specified in his...
A remarkable discovery was made in a laboratory at Trinity
College Dublin about a year ago, one that may change all our lives
in the future. Or maybe not. It was the unexpected detection of a
new kind of...
On April 30, 1939, under the gathering storm clouds of war, the
New York World’s Fair opened in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Its theme
was The World of Tomorrow. ... Some of the displayed
innovations were truly visionary. ... Albert Einstein, honorary...
A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has
meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or
practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of
immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus...
“Flexner and Dijkgraaf argue that basic research—driven by
curiosity, freedom and imagination—is a proven and essential seed
for the revolutionary technologies that fuel the economy, transform
society, and provide solutions for the world’s problems...
Craig A. Tovey of Science Magazine reviews The
Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University Press,
March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by
current IAS Director Robbert
Dijkgraaf. The book, Tovey writes...
