Along with education, research is one of the twin pillars of our university. The pursuit of knowledge simply to understand—to understand ourselves and the world around us—is fundamental to the human character. Applying knowledge in turn helps address the world’s greatest problems and also drives economic growth.
At Stanford, we champion fundamental research and applied research as equally important. At a time when public funding for research, especially fundamental research, is in question, we must continue to be committed ambassadors for each. A thriving economy, job creation and the battle against disease all depend upon both.
In 1939, American educator Abraham Flexner gave an eloquent defense of fundamental research—research driven primarily by an investigator’s relentless desire to understand. Flexner wrote, “Throughout the whole history of science most of the really great discoveries which had ultimately proved to be beneficial to mankind had been made by men and women who were driven not by the desire to be useful but merely the desire to satisfy curiosity.” He was founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study, a multidisciplinary center for basic research that boasted Albert Einstein among its first faculty members.
Einstein himself illuminated both the challenges and rewards of fundamental research when he remarked on the process of arriving at his theory of relativity: “. . . the years of searching in the dark for a truth that one feels, but cannot express; the intense effort and the alternations of confidence and misgiving, until one breaks through to clarity and understanding. . . . ” Einstein’s unrelenting quest for understanding, and other scientists’ extension and application of his findings on relativity and quantum effects, led to the discovery of black holes and gravitational waves, the development of television, lasers, accurate GPS navigation and much more.
The application of Einstein’s work exemplifies Flexner’s wisdom: Fundamental scholarship is often the basis for the most transformative applications.
History has shown, moreover, that our country’s model of partnership in research among universities, government and industry really works. Basic scientists working in universities and research institutes, supported by government agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, produce discoveries that companies build on to develop treatments for patients with serious diseases, or to revolutionize technology.
Thanks to this three-way partnership, mortality from heart disease and stroke has been cut in half in 40 years. AIDS has been transformed into a disease that is manageable without hospitalization. The human benefits from these investments are enormous, as are the economic benefits, estimated in the trillions of dollars.
Another example of basic research everyone can appreciate is a project sponsored by the Digital Libraries Initiative of the National Science Foundation in the 1990s. Two Stanford graduate students were supported to study web search engine algorithms. Their successful research led them to found Google.
Government funding of fundamental research is intended to advance long-term benefits, whereas industry investment, understandably, often focuses on projects with the greatest probability of near-term success because of business imperatives. As a result, federal support of fundamental research is a key factor in ensuring the long-term productivity of the biomedical, energy, environmental and technology sectors and others. It provides the foundation of entire industries and directly spawns the new knowledge from which breakthroughs follow.
The search for understanding is an essential human trait and foundationally important to solving society’s most difficult challenges. Stanford researchers are driven to create and to apply knowledge for the benefit of humanity. Public funding for this work must be sustained for our country to continue to lead the way.
Marc Tessier-Lavigne is the president of Stanford University.
