More Useless Research and Crazy Ideas, Please

“Perhaps the biggest fact of the last three hundred years of history is that life expectancy tripled in the West and in many other parts of the world. But it's not connected to one discovery or one battle being fought—it is a tremendous driver and it's a circle. Not only does useless thinking give useful applications, but they can lead again to useless things.”

Hear more from Robbert Dijkgraaf, Institute Director and Leon Levy Professor, on The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge, the influential essay by founding Director Abraham Flexner first published in 1939 and newly republished by Princeton University Press featuring a companian essay by Dijkgraaf, on KUOW's Speakers Forum.