The Creative and Unpredictable Interaction of Science and Technology

Frequently people believe that science is somehow primarily created by lone scientists thinking hard, which creates new science and ideas. There is a little truth in that. But especially today, the rapid growth of science and of technology depends a great deal on the interaction between people, the trading of their personal ideas, and interdisciplinary interactions. What I would call the sociology of science and technology is very important to their rapid and successful growth. Another aspect which is very important is a sense of openness and willingness to explore. We cannot predict what's going to be discovered in science. The new things are new. We can foresee some things, or some developments. But discovery always leads to enormous surprises. We have to be very open, and encourage new ideas. We must encourage young people in new approaches, and encourage exploration. It is characteristically unexpected areas and exploration which have really transformed our society. The most striking products of science and technology have helped humans enormously.

It's probably useful to illustrate unpredictability and surprise by a few examples. Let's consider firstly something in the past – our aircraft. In 1895 Lord Kelvin, who was one of the great scientists of the day, said “Heavier than air flying machines are impossible”. Then there was Lord Rayleigh, who said “I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning”. These were the two most important physicists of the day. What happened? Seven years later the Wright Brothers were flying an aircraft. We know today how much we enjoy and depend on aircraft heavier than air, and how obvious it is to everyone that they can work. A few decades later, in 1933, Lord Rutherford said “Anyone who expects a source of power from transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine”. He said that publicly because some people were saying mass has energy according to relativity theory, and one should get some energy from it somehow, perhaps from radioactive nuclei. Lord Rutherford's statement was affirmed publicly by additional prominent physicists of that time so people wouldn't be fooling themselves about getting energy out of nuclei. But it was only six years later that fusion was discovered. I was a graduate student at that time, and remember that many students and faculty were suddenly saying “Look, Fermi's findings were in error and led him to think that he was making heavier elements when in fact he observed fusion”. The truth was discovered by a chemist, not a physicist. And people began to realize that yes, we could indeed get a great deal of energy from atoms.