December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched successfully into orbit from an Ariane 5 rocket. Rocketry has been the only way we’ve ever successfully propelled a spacecraft any substantial distances through space, and we’ve successfully used rockets to break the bonds of Earth’s gravity since the late 1950s. Today’s great scientific and technological advances are enabled by a sustained history of society investing in fundamental science and science education. (Credit: ESA-CNES-ArianeSpace/Optique Vidéo du CSG/NASA TV)
As US science faces record cuts to funding, jobs, and facilities, these 10 quotes help remind us how science brings value to us all.
This animation switches between the planned NASA astrophysics fleet, as originally published by NASA in December of 2016, and the current budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year for NASA astrophysics. With only a few notable exceptions, the entire portfolio of NASA astrophysics missions is slated to be eliminated. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)
These ten historical quotes remind us of science’s unique, irreplaceable societal value.
Since the post-World War II era began, the USA has led the world in science by investing in all aspects of the endeavor as is relevant to society: foundationally, educationally, and through investing in both fundamental and practical research programs to push the frontiers of human knowledge forward. Abandoning these principles, this roadmap, and a sustained investment in the scientific endeavor ensures the abdication of science leadership, ceding it to the rest of the world. (Credit: National Academies/Astro2020 decadal survey)
1.) “Scientists do not discover in order to know, but rather, they know in order to discover.” -Alfred Whitehead
A cross-section of the Wealden Dome, in the south of England, which required hundreds of millions of years just to explain the erosion features observed, with fossils of past life found in the different layers. The chalk deposits on either side, absent in the center, provide evidence for an incredibly long geological timescale required to produce this structure. Darwin’s estimates for Earth’s age, both geologically and biologically, helped guide astronomers towards uncovering the process powering the stars and the age of the Universe. (Credit: ClemRutter/Wikimedia Commons)
2.) “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” -Andre Gide
The launch of Cassini, on October 15, 1997. This spectacular streak shot was taken from Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with a solid rocket booster retrieval ship in the foreground. The lessons we learn from exploring the Universe often translate to improvements in the quality of life here on Earth, especially on a long-term basis. Investing in endeavors in science, from geology to biology to astrophysics, often pays large dividends in the future and holds enormous returns-on-investment, benefitting all of society. (Credit: Kennedy Space Center/NASA)
