PIRSA:17120024

The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

Dijkgraaf, R. (2017). The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/17120024

Dijkgraaf, Robbert. The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Perimeter Institute, Dec. 19, 2017, https://pirsa.org/17120024 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:17120024,
            doi = {10.48660/17120024},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/17120024},
            author = {Dijkgraaf, Robbert},
            keywords = {Other},
            language = {en},
            title = {The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2017},
            month = {dec},
            note = {PIRSA:17120024 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Robbert Dijkgraaf Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

DOI 10.48660/17120024
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

In his classic essay, “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge,” Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries  but also the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips. Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Institute’s current director, explains how Flexner’s defense of the value of “the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge” may be even more relevant today than it was in the early twentieth century. Dijkgraaf describes how basic research has led to major transformations in the past century and explains why it is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change.