Korea's curiosity-driven science, blue sky research
기초과학 기획 #2: 대한민국 기초과학의 현주소
Questions. Curiosity. Creativity. Ideas.
Researchers often say that these are the four secrets to scientific breakthroughs.
For more on where Korea stands on blue sky research today,... Moon Connyoung reports.
Most of the matter in the universe is dark.
Without dark matter, galaxies and stars would not have formed and life would not exist.
It holds the universe together. What is it?
That's the ultimate question that brought Yannis Semertzidis from a lab in New York to Korea... to this pristine lab.
At the center of this 7-point-6 million U.S. dollar-per-year research project - the quest for axion.
"We call it a cavity and this is our basic Axion detector. Almost everything we do right now is using cylinders like this."
These gleaming cylindrical apparatus of copper and gold are prototypes of a device that might one day answer a major mystery about the Universe.
But here's a catch: no one knows whether axions even exist.
So, what if they end up finding... no such particle exists?
"It would be great because our goal is not really detecting the axion... truly believe there is axion. This is not research. If we find out there is no axion, then we also we figured it out."
If CAPP succeeds in finding the axion, it will not only transform Korea, but rewrite physics.
"I want Korea to be able to produce Nobel prizes, year after year. And it is the attitude that will make this possible."
Dr. Ryoo Ryong is a globally-recognized chemist, the recipient of many prestigious awards.
"Zeolites' nanoporous systems are an ideal template for the synthesis of three-dimensional graphene architecture. We lowered the temperature required for the carbonization by embedding lanthanum ions."
The breakthrough discovery was published in Nature.
But, it wasn't overnight that Ryoo Ryong and his team could solve this centuries-old conundrum... it took them 17 years to arrive at the Eureka moment.
Why? For what?
"It's the scientist's curiosity and love for challenge. What's key for a scientist is creativity and originality.
Take your chances, these scientists say... because the society should be able to say it's okay to fail.
Moon Conn-young, Arirang News.
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