If people like Benoît B. Mandelbrot would have never decided to research Fractals then many modern movies wouldn’t be possible, as they rely on fractal landscape algorithms. Yet, at the time Benoît B. Mandelbrot conducted his research it was not foreseeable that his work would have any real-world applications.
In many ways, this is a book about hindsight. Pythagoras could not have imagined the uses to which his equation would be put (if, indeed, he ever came up with the equation himself in the first place). The same applies to almost all of the equations in this book. They were studied/discovered/developed by mathematicians and mathematical physicists who were investigating subjects that fascinated them deeply, not because they imagined that two hundred years later the work would lead to electric light bulbs or GPS or the internet, but rather because they were genuinely curious.
Here is my list of “really stupid, frivolous academic pursuits” that have lead to major scientific breakthroughs.
Studying monkey social behaviors and eating habits lead to insights into HIV (Radiolab: Patient Zero)
Research into how algae move toward light paved the way for optogenetics: using light to control brain cells (Nature 2010 Method of the Year).
Black hole research gave us WiFi (ICRAR award)
Optometry informs architecture and saved lives on 9/11 (APA Monitor)
Certain groups HATE SETI, but SETI’s development of cloud-computing service SETI@HOME paved the way for citizen science and recent breakthroughs in protein folding (Popular Science)
Astronomers provide insights into medical imaging (TEDxBoston: Michell Borkin)
Basic physics experiments and the Fibonacci sequence help us understand plant growth and neuron development
Addendum (via 17 Equations that changed the world)
(emphasis mine)
Addendum (via Basic science is about creating opportunities)
Studying monkey social behaviors and eating habits lead to insights into HIV (Radiolab: Patient Zero)
Research into how algae move toward light paved the way for optogenetics: using light to control brain cells (Nature 2010 Method of the Year).
Black hole research gave us WiFi (ICRAR award)
Optometry informs architecture and saved lives on 9/11 (APA Monitor)
Certain groups HATE SETI, but SETI’s development of cloud-computing service SETI@HOME paved the way for citizen science and recent breakthroughs in protein folding (Popular Science)
Astronomers provide insights into medical imaging (TEDxBoston: Michell Borkin)
Basic physics experiments and the Fibonacci sequence help us understand plant growth and neuron development
(References)