構造生物 Vol.2 No.2
1996年10月発行

Fundamental Science and Applied Science


Professor Kohsuke Yagi

Vice President for Research Development, University of Tsukuba

Studies in applied natural science are often compared with those in fundamental natural science. Recognizing that there exists a close relation between them, I wish to emphasize the following; the more fundamentai the questions addressed by basic research are, the wider will be the range of applications growing out of this work; my leading principle is that only research growing out of excellent and solid basic science will develop into a wide range of fruitful applications.

Let me explain this by giving two examples. The first one is the connection between the great discovery of electromagnetic induction by M. Faraday in 1831 and modern present-day civilization. When we realize to what extent our civilization depends on electricity and on electronic technologies, we can easily understand the fundamentai importance of Faraday's discovery. The following episode helps to illustrate the relation between "basic " and "applied" science. One day, the Minister for the British Commerce and Industry came to see Faraday in his laboratory and asked him: " Is there anything of value for human beings in such an incomprehensible piece of research in basic science? ". Faraday replied "Your Excellency, I doubt if the result of these experiments will contribute to human wealth by tomorrow or in a year from now, but I am quite sure that they have the potential to be of great benefit to mankind and to our country in ten years or at most a quarter century. These results are of such basic and universal nature !". In fact, Faraday's discovery has lead to a unified theory of electro-magnetic phenomena, and to the prediction by Maxwell of the existence of electromagnetic waves. The same theory of electromagnetism has prepared the ground for Einstein's theory of relativity, and its universal nature even has a bearing on gauge theory which has become a fundamentai principle of modern physics.

Another example from more recent times relates to the development of quantum mechanics in the years 1924-26 and to the discovery of semiconductors. The new theory of quantum mechanics made it possible to describe the world of atomic and molecular structures, providing the very basis of today's physics. Its impact and universal nature have revolutionized our understanding of nature. It took, however, another quarter of century before in 1948 Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain invented a transistor as the result of applying the new quantum mechanics to research in solid-state physics. Note that if these researchers had continued to study even enthusiastically the properties and characteristics of vacuum tubes that were in use at the time, no transistor could have been born at ail. This fact helps us understand that only the new "basic" science "quantum mechamcs" was able to open up the door to the great and completely new field of semiconductor technology. Quoting Faraday once more, we need developments in research on "a scale of a quarter century" in order to see new and exciting applications to be born from the research in fundamentai science.

Now, let us think about the importance of basic studies especially at universities. In order to develop innovative and important fields of applied research, a long period of basic studies is of essentially importance, similar to the laboratory work of Faraday or the development of quantum mechanics. This is an important though sometimes chaotic period when a researcher feels his ways around almost blindly, seemingly progressing by trial and error. If Chaos (Mr. Konton) were given eyes and a nose precipitately, then according to an ancient Chinese saying Chaos would be dead. In a university environment, however, we prefer a different approach; it is most important to accept university as a place where fundamental research should always be pursued, establishing the university as a base with a high potential for generating innovative applied studies. I believe that genuine applications can only be developed from this point of view.

E-mail: yagi@tac.tsukuba.ac.jp


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