"How curiosity begat Curiosity" Scientific breakthroughs come from investing in science education and basic research. By: Ahmed Zewail, August 19th, 2012, Los Angeles Times
On Aug. 5, I was among those who witnessed the rover Curiosity landing on Mars in real time at NASA's Caltech-managed Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The excitement was overwhelming: The one-ton Mars Science Laboratory broke through the Red Planet's atmosphere, slowed its speed from 13,000 mph to almost zero and touched down. One glimpse of those first images from more than 100 million miles away demonstrated America's leadership in innovation. Curiosity — the rover and the concept — is what science is all about: the quest to reveal the unknown. America's past investment in basic science and engineering, and its skill at nurturing the quest, is what led to the Mars triumph, and it is what undergirds U.S. leadership in today's world. But now, decreases in science funding and increases in its bureaucracy threaten that leadership position. After World War II, scientific research in the U.S. was well supported. In the 1960s, when I came to America, the sky was the limit, and this conducive atmosphere enabled many of us to pursue esoteric research that resulted in breakthroughs and Nobel prizes. American universities were magnets to young scientists and engineers...
