Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation Donald E. Stokes
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Unless on subscribes to some species of idealism or essentialism, strictly speaking the term basic or fundamental research has no meaning outside its use as a statistical household word: in other words it is historically and socially contingent . The quadrant of this typology that is concerned with fundamental understanding AND considerations of use is termed Pasteur's quadrant, or alternately “use-inspired basic research.” I reproduced a diagram from the book that illustrates the typology: Use-inspired basic research can advance both fundamental knowledge as well as technology. In Pasteur's Quadrant, Donald Stokes outlines the historically different relationships between science and technology. Louis Pasteur and modern science. An alternative model in which science and practice develop seamlessly is represented in the remarkable career of Louis Pasteur. American Psychologist, 9, 787-789. Which is a good thing because new (or better) technology enables new scientific questions to be asked. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Basic Science and Technological Innovation, Brooking Institution Press, Washington DC.; Richard R. Quadrant is the most provocative in suggesting a new model that seems broadly applicable across the different sciences. The psychological value systems of psychologists. Bush, Science: The Endless Frontier (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1945), 1–11 (accessed 28 May 2009); discussed in D. Pasteur's quadrant: Basic science and technological innovation. Stokes has written a book entitled Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation.