19 - Physics and Society

Summary

Introduction

All scientists reading this would agree that scientific research in general, and Physics in particular, deserves to be pursued if only for the sake of understanding and enjoying the world in which we live. They share Albert Einstein’s opinion: “Why do we devise theories at all? The answer is simply: because we enjoy ‘comprehending’ . . . There exists a passion for comprehending, just as there exists a passion for music” [1]. At the same time, all scientists also believe that new basic knowledge will continue to bring concrete benefits to Society.

However, this intimate conviction, well-founded on past experience, is no longer sufficient. For about twenty years, politicians and the public have increasingly been asking scientists, and in particular physicists, to

1. better describe what they do and what they learn;

2. explain what advantages Society has gained and can expect to receive in the future from the funds allocated to fundamental research; and

3. organize the production and dissemination of fundamental research in such a way as to maximize its benefits to Society.

It is my opinion that in such an enterprise other scientists perform better than physicists, possibly (but not only) because the subject of their research helps them: advances in medicine and, more recently, in molecular biology are naturally close to human life and are thus easily perceived as “useful.”