UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The last century has been a remarkable period of scientific discovery. And one of the primary drivers of it? Universities like Penn State, according to Professor of Sociology, Education and Demography David P. Baker.
That’s the main takeaway of “Global Mega-Science: Universities, Research Collaborations, and Knowledge Production,” the new book co-written by Baker and Justin J.W. Powell, professor of sociology of education at the University of Luxembourg.
In the book, published by Stanford University Press, Baker and Powell chart the spread of the global university system over the past 120 years and how it precipitated the growth of what they called “scientific knowledge production.”
Compiling historical accounts, interviews and reams of data, the authors argued that the age of global mega-science came out of the deeply intertwined relationship between higher education and scientific research, and the resulting collaborative networks established by professors around the world. These relationships “are key for scholars and citizens to understand the past, future and sustainability of science,” Baker and Powell noted.
“It’s a very accessible, historical account of how we ended up with so much scientific knowledge,” Baker said. “We summarize trends among several million records of science publications over the 20th century, uncovering the who, what, when and where of the flow of discovery. We tell the tale of this rising global flow of research papers — how we went from a world in 1900 that was producing 10,000 papers total to now, when a major research university like Penn State produces that many in just one year.”
The modern university model can be traced to late 19th century Germany and central Europe. It eventually spread to the United States, which “turbocharged” the concept and exported it to Asia and ultimately the rest of the world, Baker said. Today, the vast majority of scientific research continues to be conducted at universities.
Baker and Powell used numerous specific examples from universities worldwide to illustrate their points, including how Penn State rose above its roots as an agricultural college for farmers to become one of the standard-bearers for the modern research-driven land-grant university thanks to the efforts of its first president, Evan Pugh.
“In Pugh,” the authors wrote, “the bridge between the Euro-German university-science model and the American version and its culture is readily evident.”
Later in the book, Baker and Powell detailed Penn State Professor of Physics Doug Cowen’s highly collaborative work with more than 300 researchers from around the world at Antarctica’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Collaboration across borders and the sharing of such crucial infrastructure is key to global mega-science, according to the authors.
“The education mission of universities cross-subsidizes its scientific mission and to a degree vice versa,” Baker said. “Everyone talks about outside research funding, which of course is very important, but there’s no way that even the wealthiest nations, including the United States, could have this many government-sponsored scientists. If you add up all the scientists at Penn State and multiply that by 1,500 institutions, our higher education system supports that many scientists outright. Universities assess and hire them, develop and manage their careers, provide them salaries and professional resources. It’s the whole organizational platform that supports the scientists in developing their research from the bottom up.
“The other part central to this mode is the amount of collaboration, which is the key now to quality research — we call it the collaboration dividend,” he continued. “It not only expands resources, but it’s become the way in which top science is done. You can’t reach — and surpass — the cutting edge without it. Fortunately, universities make collaborative research so much easier to do now. Every country, despite whatever political differences they might have, have scientists who collaborate on research. A scientist, particularly university-based, can reach out anywhere in the world and say, ‘Hey, let’s solve this problem together.’”