UCLA and The Impact Of Science.

The hundredth anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Prizes is an apt reminder of the role that science and innovation has played in the last century to transform our society. Much of the technology that surrounds us owes its existence to the development of quantum mechanics in the early decades of the 1 900s. The insights gained from understanding matter at the quantum level led to the birth of the electronic industry. Modern medicine with its miracle drugs like penicillin flourished after World War II. However, in contrast to material science, the understanding of disease at the molecular level remains an open challenge, but one which we can begin to address now that the human genome has been mapped.

Information science is a much more recent endeavor, although its theoretical underpinnings were also developed in the 1940s. In some areas, like computation, we have made enormous advances. In others, like visualization, we are just beginning to compete with the capabilities of the human brain. In the application of information science to biology, we are at an infant stage, making the first steps in understanding the functionality of the genome. In all areas, the amount of information that we are gathering is increasing exponentially, and the Web, which barely existed ten years ago, now rules our lives. Although we are immersed in information, we are only at the beginning of a true information revolution that will blossom when storing and retrieving information at the molecular level is achieved routinely.

Not all scientific investigations lead to practical applications, helping instead to shape our understanding of the world. A prime example of this "pure" science is Einstein's theory of relativity, which, along with modern observational astronomy, has helped revolutionize our understanding of the universe. There are many other impressive advances in our knowledge that should stand side by side with our more technological achievements. For instance, anthropologists have found evidence of hominids as far back as 6 million years ago; we now know that matter is made up of quarks and leptons and is governed by just a few fundamental forces; all biological information is encoded in the helical strands of our DNA.

Given the enormous impact of science and technology on modem society, it is curious that our overall investment in basic research across the globe is only at the few percent level. What is more worrisome is that fewer of our young people are interested in pursuing a scientific or technical career. While it is true that the genius and insight of a few can lead to great advances, as the Nobel Prizes attest, lasting technological and scientific gains are a cumulative process requiring broad societal involvement.

A helpful recent trend of American business has been their interest and commitment to improve K-12 education, so as to help ensure a more capable future work force. Equally important, in my view, is the need for our society to engage in a parallel effort to increase the number of scientists and engineers and to strengthen our overall commitment to basic research. Such an investment is the best way to keep our society vibrant and strong.

Roberto Peccei is Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA