Science Nordic: Science has always been driven by money
There’s no way around it. Money is involved in just about everything. But just how has money affected history’s great scientific discoveries?
We may now come closer to an answer, thanks to a new Danish-led research project, which examines the background of some of the great scientific discoveries of the past 200 years.
The project is headed by Danish science historian Peter C. Kjærgaard, a professor of evolutionary studies at Aarhus University..
By digging into the archives, he aims to trace the money path from the hands of science-minded people to the final research findings.
This method has enabled him to chart the intricate web of economic, scientific and political interests that led to the discovery of the world’s first dinosaur nest in the Gobi Desert in the 1920s.
“We have taken the initial steps towards the first major systematic historical studies of how money has affected the production of scientific knowledge,” says Kjærgaard.
“Regardless of where and when in the history of science we look, we can see that researchers have always depended on money in their work and personal lives. It sounds banal, but it’s important to understand that without money we wouldn’t have the scientific data that we have today.”
The project has so far resulted in four journal articles about the role of money in science. …
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