Is the day of individual, independent scientific research dead, buried and beyond all hope of recall?

Answer 1

If by individual you mean only one person is carrying out the research all by himself/herself, without any help from anyone else, except for possibly for money, then I would say yes.

If by individual you are referring to companies that are competing to find a cure for cancer or Multiple Sclerosis, I would say,unfortunately, no. If various companies working on the same project would share their info and findings, progress would be greatly accelerated. But each company wants the credit and the money for being first. That is sad. It is also sad that an individual would want to keep his work secret from other individuals working on the same project.

Two heads are better than one

Answer 2

Science is fairly expensive. Unless tax payers want to pony up to help support it, and until our government decides to spend that money supporting science, instead of using it to blow crap up, to fund abstinence only programs and to support creationism, then yes, scientists will continue to seek funding however they can get it.

Some times people fund research to find "any" answer, other times the goal is to find a specific answer. That is the price to play the game, sadly. The best that we, as scientists, can do is attempt to answer their questins, truthfully, honestly, and as rapidly and efficiently as possible so that the left over money can be used for other research goals :P

Answer 3

Not at all. People are still doing a lot, especially in Astronomy. However, a lot of the physics research has gotten to be rather expensive, so most folks would need angel investors....who are typically interested in returns.

Answer 4

no. though funding is a problem as long as there are academic researchers independent research will thrive

Answer 5

no.only nowadays scientists are cleverer .they tends to share their knowladge.they can work in groups.its a good sign..you know...

Answer 6

Yes, sadly.