Aussie Student Finds Universe’s Missing Mass
The money quote: “Whenever I speak to people who have influence, politicians and so on, they sometimes ask me ‘Why should I invest in physics pure research?’. And I sometimes say to them: ‘Do you use a mobile phone? Some of that technology came about by black hole research’.
“The pure research has knock-on effects to the whole society which are sometimes difficult to anticipate.”
Carl Sagan was fond of pointing this out. It’s a shame it can’t be hammered into the thick heads of proudly, smugly ignorant people like Sarah Palin.