Value of Education (and academic research) in Physics

[symbolipoint]

We have already seen topics on this forums discussing Physics degree as education and not job training, and that some physics graduates do get jobs but not necessarily as physicists, and that physics majors need to take a selection of practical courses to become marketable; and that internships and research experiences are important.

Now I ask, WHO is paying for the research which physics professors and their graduate students do? Do those funding suppliers expect to gain something in return? Are the funding suppliers, government departments and private businesses who want some further knowledge to use for the understanding or for their design potential?

 

[Choppy]

My answer might be skewed a little towards the Canadian system, but in general it's the taxpayer.

On some level most people appreciate the value of academic pursuits - that science needs to be done for the sake of advancing human knowledge and even arts need to be studied and advanced for society to grow.

And so we pay taxes. We do this for the same reason that we need roads, armed forces, prisons, libraries and passports. We don't all agree on the amount of tax and how it should be allocated, and the average person will complain that it isn't being spent effectively enough, but in the end the average person pays anyway. A small portion of this money is channeled to universities directly. Another portion is channeled into funding organizations like NSERC (in Canada) or NIH or DOE in the US.

Then there are institutional charitable organizations, cancer societies for example. This is where a charity will collect money to donate to advance research in a specific field it has identified as a particular area of concern. Many are disease related. This money comes from private donations, and those donations are made by... John Q. Public.

That's not so say there aren't university-corporate partnerships. Sometimes corporations will make donations that are more philanthropic in nature in exchange for having a building branded with their name. Sometimes they more directly seek to invest in research that will have a commercial application. And yes, this does generate a quagmire of conflicting interests.

 

[symbolipoint]

Choppy, interesting discussion! So not all funding is made purely for profit.