The failure of William Henry Perkin to manufacture synthetic quinine, produced, in the 1890s, a successful and popular mauve dye.
Perkin’s story is a warning of the potential perils of targeted research. Had he been working in a commercial environment, it’s likely that because the purple dye wasn’t quinine, his further investigations would have been thought to be an expensive waste of time.
Helen Mason studies The Sun, our star, and when questioned about this hugely expensive research, she simply retorts that all knowledge is priceless.
The natural philosophers of the Royal society had realised that to pursue pure knowledge, to understand the world, you need money.
John Harrison’s invention of the bimetallic strip to produce the first accurate marine clock was an example of targeted science.
Robert Boyle is perhaps Britain’s finest chemist. He is famous for his eponymous Boyle’s Law and noted for his visionary Boyle’s List.
Now, this list would have seemed fantastical to someone in the 17th century. It would have seemed like science fiction, but what I find remarkable about it is that all but two of the 24 things on this list have now been achieved by science, and I suppose that makes Robert Boyle a visionary.
Bringing science and scientists together is what Professor Sir Paul Nurse hopes to achieve with The Francis Crick Institute.
Free the blue sky thinkers in an anarchy of science and creativity will be unleashed.
Practical men like Jethro Tull and Alexander Graham Bell provided many new inventions but pharmaceutical advances come from huge labs with vast budgets.
It’s undeniable that targeted research delivers, but, and it’s a big but, there is a catch. And it’s this. In any commercial environment, specific targeting brings with it the possibility that during the process of discovery, any kind of result that doesn’t positively enhance the chance of success may be ignored
Blue-Skies Research as a term may conjure up images of a senile, old, scatter-brained acientist, but is a form of curiosity-driven science.
John Tyndall was a man who followed his curiosity for its own sake, not for where it might lead.
At the heart of the British war effort was the development of mustard gas at a top-secret military base in North Wales.
Following on from the Hereditary considerations, GM Crops are feared and distrusted by many with good cause.
The way to combat that fear is through effective public engagement. And perhaps surprisingly, one of the best examples of that comes from over 200 years ago and the scientist who, at the time, was perceived to be a dangerous villain.
England, particularly London has been home to many of science’s great success stories including those of Humphry Davy.
At the time, Mary Shelley’s fears were not widely shared. The majority of the public remained in love with science for another century.
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