Maintaining a vibrant economy

Assumption: scientific research was the basis of our economic growth in the twentieth century. Just think of the world prior to World War II. There were no transistors, fiber optics, integrated circuits, wireless communications, LCDs, lasers, Internet, GPS, etc., etc. By far the vast majority of these inventions came from the US of A and were the result of scientific research conducted in the laboratories of the government, universities and companies.

These inventions occurred in a world where we were dominant. Now that we are being challenged by developing super-powers such as China and India, we seem to have started to take a back seat in scientific research. And it does not appear as though we are being pushed into the back seat, we’re moving there on our own. Consider the following. The federal budget spends half (on a percentage basis) on scientific research than it did in 1970. The number of graduate students in the sciences is down 20% since 1993. Fewer articles in scientific journals (usually indicating research successes) are written by Americans.

It will not get better until we improve our education system and have a government that realizes the critical importance of scientific research.