Today there are microchips in inexpensive equipment used to put music on a CD that are doing in seconds what took days forty years ago. Heck, even taking the square root of a number was a big deal back then. One could either fire up a mainframe computer or do it by hand. Today I apply those insights to my own profession, which lies in the social sciences. But it makes no difference which shaft in the mine of Science one works in, the principles of digging the richest ore are always the same.
Some scientific work has a clear practical application.
Edison is the great example of a man who added little to our store of knowledge , and only temporarily to our enjoyment of life. He did not 'discover' the light bulb, but took the theoretical work on the passage of current through media of different resistance and went into his lab to find the substance that would give the most light for the longest time at a reasonable price. Like many applied findings, Edison's discovery was soon replaced. Today's lighbulbs and neon tubes and glowing diodes bear little resemblance to Edison's device. The principles with which Edison worked, however, are still of great use.