why to invest big scientific projects with no direct benefit to common man????

Big science projects have always faced questions. Probably one of the best answers to them was given by Robert Wilson, who went on to be the first director of Fermilab, housing the giant multimilliondollar particle accelerator, outside Chicago. In Congress in 1969, Wilson was quizzed about the value of the accelerator to US security and asked to justify the expenditure. He responded: “It has only to do with…the dignity of men, our love of culture. It has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets?...all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending.”

Quote from :

Getting India Into Orbit

NASA’s change in direction may be a big opportunity for ISRO

Saswato R Das

Editorial TOI 13th may 2010