When I was young, my parents told me how crazy it was to hear about the moon landing.
Those sentiments were matched in the United States. In a century crowded with wars, fear and distrust. This was an American triumph against the Soviet Union. And it also strengthened the tie between federal funding and scientific research.
Without NASA, space exploration could not have started in the 1960’s. It was too risky and expensive for any other company.
But times have changed. Today, more and more private companies are attempting to become the leader not only in space exploration but also in medical research and disease control. While this provides much-needed money for research, it limits the scope of large-scale science projects in the future.
With recent federal budget cuts, funding for scientific research has decreased. NPR reported the budget for the National Institutes of Health has been cut by over 20 percent since 2004.
This reduction limits scientists from receiving funding and has halted scientific research on obesity, DNA and other important issues.
In order to bridge the funding gap, billionaire philanthropists and private companies have been donating more money than ever to fund scientific research. The New York Times reported that three large brain institutes have been set up by help from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Fred Kavli, a real estate billionaire.
Entrepreneur Larry Ellison started the Ellison Medical Foundation and donated $500 million to medical research, and Tesla’s founder Elon Musk set up Space X to privatize space exploration.
This is good news. Scientific research requires funding for salaries and equipment. In order to ensure the United States is the leader in technology and science, it is essential researchers have enough resources to accomplish their goals.
However, the privatization of science also provides some worrisome consequences.
Unlike public funding, private companies focus more on “sexy” sciences. This includes exciting areas like disease research and space exploration. But areas like chemistry, physics and zoology research that fight pharmaceutical, engineering and environmental issues, but don’t receive so much attention.
The government still provides the basic funding for the majority of this research. If private companies want to be serious hitters in the science world, more of this research needs to be funded otherwise only certain subjects will ever be researched properly.
I think companies should take an interest in science. Their funding is creating thousand of break-throughs, some which may not have occurred otherwise. However, the government should still continue funding research.
As a civilized society, our accomplishments are not measured solely by our defense systems or the balance in our bank accounts, but our accomplishments. Scientific research can save lives, through vaccines or better technology. But it allows us to unite our achievements under our country, not a company.
If we put a man on Mars, I don’t want him to be a Space X employee; I want him to be an American.
A previous version of this article stated "Ralph Ellison" has set up Ellison Medical Foundation instead of "Larry Ellison." The IDS regrets this error.
