The question of balance between applied and basic science continues to be debated in most countries, including Korea. Since there seems to be so much need for public support of impoverished people, how can we spend valuable resources to fund curiosity driven research?

Basic science can provide revolutionary technologies and ideas; helps keep the local industry up-to-date with the latest developments; encourages constant competition via technology transfer programs; and most importantly, trains the next generation of scientists and engineers in Korea to tackle problems in fundamentally new ways.

A well-balanced approach to applied and basic science is best, as the elimination of basic science would be very dangerous to the vitality of the scientific community of Korea.

I am the director of the IBS Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research, or IBS/CAPP in short.

Our main goal is to probe a certain dark matter candidate called axion that may be filing all of the space between the stars in our galaxy, therefore providing the glue needed to keep them from flying away into outer space.

Our plan is to apply very powerful, large volume magnets and see hints of this glue by generating power seemingly out of nothing at one frequency in the microwave spectrum. As the generated power is small, we need to immerse the antennas and keep the critical part of the electronics system very near absolute zero temperature and shield it all from any possible environmental noise.

Even if we discover the axions to be part of the dark matter, the expected benefits from this discovery in the foreseeable future have to do with fundamental questions about the universe, the Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research and galaxy dynamics.

Yes, Korea may even land a Nobel Prize but what do the Korean people get in return for all this investment? A highly esteemed colleague of mine and director of another IBS center jokingly accused me of being the director of the most “useless” IBS center. He meant that even if we are successful, the final product is of no immediate use.

However, this is a complete misunderstanding of our work. The goals of IBS/CAPP are extremely difficult to achieve. If our plan succeeds we should be able to finally determine whether or not axions are indeed part of the dark matter, a question scientists around the world have been struggling with for almost 40 years.

To do this herculean task we need to develop systems that currently don’t exist and are very hard to achieve. We identified and targeted them and are putting tremendous effort into bringing them to fruition because we are interested in answering nature’s fundamental questions.

In the process, we collaborate with the best international institutions and some of the smartest people on earth, learning from and with them. At the highest level, many times scientists work together as a team and share their expertise. As a result of our learning, we expect in the next two- to five-year period to transfer technology to Korean companies that will be worth several hundred million dollars, all benefitting Korea. The benefit level will be far above any conceivable investment we will receive as an IBS center.

However, the most valuable outcome of basic science is the training of current and future scientists to learn to work together in a highly competitive and high-pressure environment.

Not all trained scientists stay in basic science -- actually only a very small percentage do.

Most of them go on to become civil servants or engineers, teachers, etc., working to solve complex problems of immediate use or training other students. It is well known that a group of highly motivated people is much more effective in solving complex problems than the sum of the work of individuals.

During group meetings, scientists need to feel free to express an opposing opinion in the strongest possible ways without the dangers of either fighting among themselves or insulting an important figure. Some of our teams in our center have achieved innovation levels the likes of which can only be seen in the best institutions around the world. Not unrelated, they have also developed the ability to debate at the highest levels, helping to ensure our leadership position in the field.

In a very short time we have established a strong international presence in our field and our methods will ensure that we will always be highly competitive. We are preparing to lead in the field for the foreseeable future, after completing the infrastructure of our world-class center, answering some of the most fundamental questions in nature today, giving back to the Korean people and making them proud. When done right, basic science can be a strong pillar supporting applied science and helping to drive the next innovation revolution in Korea.


By Yannis K. Semertzidis

Yannis K. Semertzidis is a KAIST physics professor, director of the IBS/CAPP at KAIST and spokesperson of the Storage Ring EDM Collaboration. -- Ed.