kcowan
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
This could be used as an argument for every major breakthrough. The point of theoretical research is exactly the opposite. The pursuit has no practical application. That is left to others (usually engineers).True, no way to predict it. But looking at it from an 'opportunity cost' viewpoint - what about the value of more near-term projects that didn't come to light because these guys were working on looking for the existence of this particle?
The invention of the LASER (MASER actually) was the result of quantum physics but the discovery of quantum physics was not for its applications.