It’s nothing new—politicians complain about silly science projects funded by the government to get taxpayers riled up. I get it. You might think super expensive particle accelerators or even dirt-cheap experiments on the color of petunias are a waste of money.
OK, you’re coming from a business perspective. But even if you care only about money in and money out, if you account for all the downstream effects—which no one can foresee—these projects often do pay off. (Read about the petunias!) Let me tell you about another silly little experiment that turned out to have an extremely high ROI.
Hertz’s Experiment
In 1862, James Clerk Maxwell