Helen Quinn’s Reference Frame points in a useful direction, and it certainly improves on the typical middle-school oversimplification of what scientists do and how and why they do it. However, it maintains one idealization: that we lab scientists choose our problems based on a desire for understanding and consistency. In many cases, driven by funding imperatives, we choose our problems based on the needs of nonscientists. In those situations, we cast our choices in such a light that nonscientists will believe we are solving their problems. For example, SLAC might not have been built or maintained were it not perceived by the public that particle physics has practical consequences.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics.
2010
American Institute of Physics
