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Asked by anon-360747 on 23 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-359962.
Question: What do you think the best discovery ever made was?
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Martin McCoustra answered on 23 Mar 2023:
A few years ago, we were working on how carbon monoxide molecules orient themselves in thin solid films of the compound and discovered that these films posses an electric field. Such icy films of carbon monoxide form in the cold, dense gas present in star forming regions in space. We reasoned that this might be the missing link in explaining the difference between the rate of star formation observed by astronomers and the best calculated rate determined by astrophysicists. We were right, it turned that the presence of this electric field increased the rate from the best calculation to that which is observed. Amazing how something on the nanoscale could impact on the astronomical scale.
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Claire Sycamore-Howe answered on 23 Mar 2023:
In my opinion the scale up of the production of Penicillin. Although Alexander Fleming discovered it, and discovery is incredibly important, he couldn’t scale it up (make it in large quantities) so it could be used to treat infections and disease.
I would argue far more important is the work of Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain who worked out how to manufacture/mass produce it, which meant it could be used to treat infections and save millions of lives.
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Graeme Dykes answered on 24 Mar 2023:
It is hard to say because the impact depends on the era at which the discovery was made.
Newton set forth his mechanics and that changed Science for ever.
The birth of Quantum theory was so strange and yet so powerful.
The Haber process meant that suddenly the World’s food supply was massively improved and arguably saved more lives than most medicines.
The structure of DNA brought together many different scientists and took a spark of genius.
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