Clinton Joseph Davisson Quotes
Discoveries in physics are made when the time for making them is ripe, and not before.
This quotation illustrates a way in which science is frequently at odds with politics. Our politicians realize the importance of scientific research to our standard of living, economy, and quality of life. So they want to support research and development programs. However, budgeting and planning for these in terms of expected or desired results is virtually impossible. So scientific research, especially basic research is not susceptible to the usual planning and monitoring that is so common and effective in construction projects or other applications of science and technology. It is hard to predict when and which scientists will have the next critical idea. It is very difficult to hold scientists or administrators accountable for scientific research results because of this factor. See {624876}.
Clinton Joseph Davisson, 1881–1958, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Nobel Prize Reception Lecture, 1937
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Scientific breakthroughs depend on genius, circumstances, the work of others and serendipity. None of these are very predictable which is why it is do difficult to manage a scientific enterprise and be accountable for any results. See {624867}.
Von Braun never really did any basic research, and although a brilliant engineer and technologist who was instrumental in rocket development, he never made any contribution to science. Basic research has the greatest long term benefit and effect on human knowledge and standard of living, but applied science can have more short range utility.
Although a conservative Republican, he and most other CEOs of modern companies do not denigrate and ignore science the way many other conservatives have done over the years.
This is one of the reasons that scientific research pays such large dividends to society.
- Born: October 22, 1881
- Died: February 1, 1958
- Nationality: American
- Profession:
Clinton Joseph Davisson was an American physicist who won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of electron diffraction in the famous Davisson–Germer experiment. Davisson shared the Nobel Prize with George Paget Thomson, who independently discovered electron diffraction at about the same time as Davisson.
