Science's Return from Technology

Abstract

It has been said that in the advancement of science the best is vastly more important than the next best. This seems to apply with equal force to the pursuit of pure science and the application of technology whilst there may be difference in degree only between the two. It cannot be denied that each enriches itself from the ric-hness of the other. Sir George Thomson rightly observed that "Pure science receives a great return from what it contributes to technology and this in two ways, materially and in the realm of ideas.