New Nobels Reflect Blending in Research
October 9, 2019
This year’s prize in physics went to three scientists for their work in understanding the cosmos and Earth’s place in it, and the prize in chemistry went to three scientists for developing practical lithium ion batteries. Basic and applied. This mix is a hallmark of today’s “richly interwoven system of scientific and technological research in which there is no clear hierarchy of importance and no straightforward linear trajectory,” three Harvard scholars noted in Issues, adding that “accepting this reality has profound implications for the design of research institutions, the allocation of resources, and the national policies that guide research.”