“Those who work with me know that there are few things likely to irritate me more than attempts to distinguish between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research. Often this taxonomy is used to suggest that people or institutions pursuing ‘applied’ research are doing something less intellectually satisfying and maybe less prestigious. As far as I am concerned, this is a distinction that lost any objective meaning a long time ago. I was therefore interested to read a comment recently in the New York Times blog section by a Stanford University biophysicist who pointed out that, right back to Archimedes, research that might have appeared to be ‘blue skies’ work actually had practical objectives and significant application …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 9 July]