Jesus Pando is a cosmologist at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. His research includes studying what’s called the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, the earliest light we can see, just 300,000 years after the Big Bang. Earth & Sky caught up with Dr. Pando at a meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. He said that basic research should be supported for more than just its immediate applications.
Jesus Pando: I think instead, you appeal to the poet, to the philosopher in people. People have always looked at the stars, and wondered what it was that was there. I think that everyone has curiosity. Everyone wants to know about the universe around them. And I think the way you justify basic research is that we are satisfying that curiosity that all of us, I think, have. All of us are interested in how life began. All of us are interested in how the universe began. All of us are interested in these kinds of things. And we’re interested in them certainly from a practical point of view, but also, I think, just because we’re curious people.
That was DePaul University cosmologist Jesus Pando.
Our thanks today to Research Corporation, America’s first foundation for science advancement
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