As did George Boyle’s “Laws of Thought”, mostly a mathematical curiosity somewhat useful for philosophers & pure mathematicians. Until someone realized it would model switching circuits and networks for telephones and called it Boolean Algebra. Then it became useful for modeling/designing integrated circuits and the path led to whatever your pounding on to complain about Hawking’s work.
There are lots of examples where something that was developed from a completely theoretical standpoint that later had practical uses. Theory to direct application or the math used to develop the theory can be applied elsewhere. Example “String Theory” may fail as Grand Unification Theory but people are applying parts to understand surfaces & boundaries. This has huge uses in materials science & the engineering of new materials.
As did George Boyle’s “Laws of Thought”, mostly a mathematical curiosity somewhat useful for philosophers & pure mathematicians. Until someone realized it would model switching circuits and networks for telephones and called it Boolean Algebra. Then it became useful for modeling/designing integrated circuits and the path led to whatever your pounding on to complain about Hawking’s work.
There are lots of examples where something that was developed from a completely theoretical standpoint that later had practical uses. Theory to direct application or the math used to develop the theory can be applied elsewhere. Example “String Theory” may fail as Grand Unification Theory but people are applying parts to understand surfaces & boundaries. This has huge uses in materials science & the engineering of new materials.
Another great example...stealth technology!
Soviet scientists developed the original theory but left it at the academic level...Western scientists figured out how to turn it inside-out and use it to design aircraft invisible to radar.