In America's Financial Apocalypse (extended 2006 version), I made the case for a trend of declining basic research from core scientific disciplines such as chemistry and physics.  I also noted Western Europe's surge past the U.S. in patent applications. 

 

As the chart below illustrates, the U.S. is not increasing R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP, while Asia continues to pump more and more money into R&D.

 

 

Finally, I discussed the continuing trend of declining dollars from Washington to support organizations such as the NSF that provide grants for core research.  As a result, over the years, corporate America has filled this funding gap.  This trend has served to damage core research further. 

 

On Tuesday, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three Americans (although two have additional citizenship; Canadian and British) for the development of fiber optics and the charge-coupled device.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091006/ap_on_sc/eu_nobel_physics

Without a doubt these two developments were huge and have catapaulted the telecommunications and the photography industries. Together, they have played a primary role enabling the collection and transmission of digital data. 

However, having been trained in chemistry and physics, I feel the award was a poor choice.  A Nobel prize in physics should be reserved for advancements in basic research, not engineering. But you don't necessarily need a background in physics to realize the most recent Nobel Prize in Physics represents a departure from past awards. 

Below I have listed all Nobel Prizes awarded for physics.  As you can see, virtually all previous awards were for critical core science breakthroughs.   

I mention this because I feel it is something very important to consider.  The effects of diminished core research will not be felt for a few decades, but once they are in place it will take decades to correct. 

 

 

   

 

  

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