The benefits of basic research in universities

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2025 (192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A few weeks ago, I told my eldest son’s wife that I planned to write and publish after retirement from the University of Winnipeg. She didn’t understand, because she thought the job of university professors was just to teach.

She did not appreciate that we do scientific research, including especially what might be called curiosity-driven or basic research with no foreseeable immediate application.

Such misunderstanding appears widespread, given comments on right-wing Facebook pages. As U.S. President Donald Trump withholds government funding from Harvard and bans students from other countries, including Canada, comments appear like “Cut funding to Harvard and give it to trades schools” and “Harvard with $50 billion in endowment doesn’t need taxpayer support.”

Education in trades is important, but the money being cut is for research, not teaching, including basic research done in universities and without which people wouldn’t even have a device or internet to spread misleading comments. Moreover, only interest from endowments can be spent, and just for purposes specified by donors (e.g., research, scholarships), not for general university operations. Spending only the interest ensures donors’ goals last forever.

Many people know Marie Curie discovered radioactivity, but fewer know her groundbreaking work was conducted at Sorbonne university in Paris. Government support for basic research on radioactivity by many university scientists led ultimately to MRI machines, nuclear power plants, and tools to support sustainable agriculture, to mention a few benefits.

Another familiar scientist, Albert Einstein, is known for his highly theoretical research on relativity, developed in a Swiss patent office and then several universities.

The theory seems far removed from practical use, but wrongly so. It is fundamental to many current devices, such as lasers and GPS, the latter using satellites with highly precise atomic clocks. Next time you use a smartphone to find your way, think of Einstein.

Although Curie and Einstein are well known, much basic research leading to advances is carried out by unnamed scientists working away in university laboratories. Here are just a few examples of research that formed the foundation for applications we benefit from today.

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are tiny biological capsules (100-200 nanometers in size, 25.4 million nm = one inch), and studied for decades in universities, again with government funding. Better understanding of LNPs eventually led to such applications as delivering medicines to treat cancer or prevent disease and increasing uptake of nutrients in agriculture. Nanoparticles in catalytic converters reduce harmful emissions from cars.

On the surface, pure mathematics appears an unlikely candidate for practical benefits. People studied number theory, for example, simply to understand the properties and beauty of mathematics. No one anticipated that the abstract and highly theoretical study of prime numbers divisible only by 1 and themselves (e.g., 3, 7, 53) would be fundamental for cryptography. Next time you make an e-transfer, thank number theory for the security of the transmission.

Basic research in many sciences can lead to later applications. In cognitive psychology, for example, research on lists of words and other lab tasks demonstrated that mental images play an important role in memory. This theory informs applications in education, such as using multi-media to learn knowledge involving visual concepts as in chemistry.

These examples illustrate that diverse applications depend on prior knowledge developed by research done out of curiosity without foreseen benefits. As noted by psychologist Kurt Lewin, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.”

Applied research at universities is also undermined by cuts in taxpayer support. Governments funded years of work at the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan that led to a variety of rapeseed plant with low acidic content and to one of Canada’s largest crops and exports, canola. And many industries benefit from skilled graduates with research experience.

How important is basic research? Very! J. H. Comroe Jr. and R. D. Dripps reviewed research necessary for certain medical advances (e.g., cardiac surgery, chemotherapy).

Basic, curiosity-driven research made up about 40 per cent of studies, much done in universities. It makes sense. Without knowing how the heart works or cancer fundamentals, better diagnosis and treatment is impossible.

I understand why my daughter-in-law did not appreciate the science side of my job. She never attended university and even if she had, few students see that part of university work unless they serve as research assistants or do research themselves, activities that are less likely with reduced taxpayer support.

In short, research that lacks foreseeable applications is invisible to most members of the public.

Sadly, short-sighted politicians can exploit people’s lack of knowledge for political gain and to cut government support.

The result is fewer countries invest in university research to simply understand the world, and fewer benefit economically from later applications without which the world is worse off.

James M. Clark is a professor of Psychology at the University of Winnipeg.