I think that aside from its general purpose of serving as a tool for cognition of nature and society and aside from its practical role, science is also an indicator of a country's development level. Without big science there cannot be a high level of tackling tasks of the future. стр. 34 ACADEMICIAN MSTISLAV KELDYSH ABOUT SCIENCE Very few things, I believe, can be compared to the feeling of a man who has made a scientific discovery. He has learned something new, quite unknown, and by his discovery has brought use to people. This must be the supreme satisfaction ever possible to a scientist. True, at first you feel joy–rather egotistical for that matter. You think: I, only I know it, it is 1 who has found and discovered it. What happiness! But then comes something else: a sense of satisfaction that your discovery shall not go, that it shall be put to good use. This puts me in mind of Grieg.* Walking through the field, he heard a plain country maid singing a song to his melody. And it occurred to him that his music had become part of her soul... His creation had entered the folk's soul... The same joy overwhelms a discoverer as he sees his life-changing discovery. Progress in science is impossible unless one overcomes difficulties. Science calls for heroism. But that's what youth is after and in what it sees happiness. It brings certainty–a certainty one will be able to inscribe new pages in the book of history. This is wonderful indeed. Science opens up a boundless field for activity, and no one will ever tell that everything has already been discovered, and all problems have been solved for good. Science has never risen to such significance for people's life as now. There is an ongoing intensive process of changing the life of humanity, a process triggered by grandiose achievements scored by science. This process is snowballing. Life on earth has changed beyond recognition before our very eyes. Our plane ... Читать далее