No other human endeavour has a greater influence on society, a greater ability to bring about change than science. Waging war comes a close second with its ability to reconstruct a population or redraw the political map, but war is almost exclusively a negative and wasteful undertaking, nothing like the creativity and innovation that flows from science.
Science is also an evolutionary process, punctuated by a few but remarkable revolutionary interjections, discoveries that don't as much nudge as kick the process forward. Every century has its scientific punctuation, the past 100 years perhaps more so than previous ones. In the past, discoveries had the potential to affect science as a study - today, they have the power to alter the way we live, the way our society is structured. However, any examination of the past century's science must start
with some appreciation of what science actually is. Few people readily make the connection between science and creativity. Many believe art and creativity lurk on one side of the brain while cold logic, mathematics and the pure sciences occupy the other. The popular perception is of two mutually exclusive halves, fighting for control to determine whether a person will write odes or don a white coat.
In fact, there is no effort more creative than research. Although science imposes a tightly controlled regime that dictates how experimentation proceeds and what conclusions can be drawn from it, the ideas that initiate the research spring from the same well of inventiveness and original thought that refreshes the poet, the novelist or the musician.
Many may perceive the self-imposed scientific tyranny that rules the laboratory and the research effort as a burdensome yoke that forces the scientist to conform to particular methods, no matter how bright the initial flash of a new idea. In reality, these strictures are no different to the despotism under which accomplished musicians must labour to achieve mastery of an instrument or total control over the magic of a wonderful voice. The novelist's accomplishment is also seen as inspiration. But to learn what it is really like to be a writer, take your absolute favourite novel, sit down and try to type it out. The mechanical labour that attaches to the process will show that delivering creativity in a way that demonstrates its true worth is hard work, whatever the discipline.
Genuine creativity, particularly when it touches that rare thing, genius, is recognisable as such no matter whether it is found in the arts or sciences. While you don't have to be an artist to see the beauty in Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ, or a musician to appreciate Mozart or Brahms, the selfsame achievement is visible in Einstein's theory of relativity for those with eyes to see. His creative genius is less immediately visible to the casual observer. Yet Einstein's work and the creative efforts of other great scientists have had a more tangible and a more profound impact on society than any concerto or novel.
Great literature and art are wonders to behold, but they move only those with the inclination to appreciate them. No law has yet been passed to force people to exploit the treasures on display in the world's museums or to read the writings of nobel laureates. As a result, these works are fully appreciated by relatively few people. Science, however, manages to turn society around, even if the individuals in society remain ignorant or indifferent to its discoveries.
It doesn't matter if you understand Einstein's little formula E=mc2 , even though it tells you how big a bang to expect from a nuclear warhead. Know for certain, however, that humanity has lived under the spectre of mutually assured nuclear destruction for almost two generations and no other influence has had a greater impact on the geopolitics of our shared planet. Watson and Crick, meanwhile, might sound vaguely familiar, like the names of a comedy duo you once heard on the BBC, or the names of political commentators you should probably know. Yet their scientific discoveries about the nature of DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, sparked a revolution in biochemistry which has so far has delivered genetic engineering, genetically modified foods and a whole new way of looking at human health and disease.