Scientific Research and Prosperity of the United States - Essay Example

If provided an opportunity, such people often lead the nation in scientific research. Archimedes ran naked on the streets of ancient Saracuse directly from the bathtub, crying "Eureka! I have found it!" This discovery from the bathtub points out the importance of pure scientific temper in research. Archimedes had the problem in his inquisitive mind even while he was taking a bath and when he found that with deeper immersion of his body into the water equal volume of water is being displaced out; he found a way to measure the volume.

Werner Von Braun said1, "Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." Scientific reasoning, by definition, involves both conceptual understanding and inquiry skills2. The scientific thinking and reasoning skills thus required to be developed in children at an early age, which requires the adequate support from the respective governments and the society. Today we are in the midst of IT revolution and United States is a leading economy enjoying the fruits of such a revolution.

Had there been no pure scientific temper, we might not be having the computer around us. Developing an interest for scientific research and scientific temper requires encouragement from the government and other concerned organizations, which in turn leads to the economic growth of the country. Expressing his concern at the diminishing interest for formal education, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said3 that Americans' lack of skills is holding back economic growth. Taking cognizance of the shortfall in scientific temper, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has drawn plans to network such training and education with Information technology tools.

The Federation has been working towards bringing scientists and technologists from a range of disciplines together to work out a collaborative effort in the field of education and workplace training. Federation has in fact underlined the need for appropriate new uses of science and technology for individuals, in the increasingly diverse society, to impart the requisite quality education and training. These efforts are an indication towards the crucial importance of development of a scientific temper.

In fact pure science does not bind an individual to the field of science only; it has the ability to percolate down to any field which has relevance for the individual and the human society in general. Be it the complex calculations for a mathematician, trying out new forecasting techniques for an economist, managing natural disasters, developing a new machine for the production unit, space exploration, trying out a new medicine, making a new game for the kids etc. what is common to all these fields is science and the scientific temper.

Now a days, the human genome project is being taken up by the scientific community in a big way. Though there are arguments for and against the project, but the project is certain to solve some of the mysteries of