Comment by croes
4 months ago
Giant magnetoresistance was discovered in 1988, it became useful in HDDs in 1997.
If they had evaluated 1993 the discovery would be called useless and a waste of money.
4 months ago
Giant magnetoresistance was discovered in 1988, it became useful in HDDs in 1997.
If they had evaluated 1993 the discovery would be called useless and a waste of money.
I agree that basic research like the discovery of GMR often has an unpredictable timeline and shouldn't be judged too early..
However, I still believe that a light-touch monitoring system is important. It's not about evaluating the usefulness of the discovery in the short term, but rather ensuring that:
Funds are being used for the stated research goals (fiscal responsibility).
The project is making scientific progress as defined by its own milestones (accountability).
> The project is making scientific progress as defined by its own milestones (accountability).
How do you differentiate between pursuing a hypothesis that turns out to be incorrect (an essential part of science if we want to actually learn anything new) and failing to make scientific progress?
> The project is making scientific progress as defined by its own milestones (accountability).
Not a researcher, but my perception is that this is already part of the process. Is it not?