Editor's Note: (Meg Urry is the past president of the American Astronomical Society and the Israel Munson professor of physics and astronomy at Yale University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. )
(CNN) In the 1950s, the late physicist Charles Townes was told he was wasting his time inventing lasers (a kind of powerful light source explained by a theory Albert Einstein published a century ago).
Ponder this every time you fire up your computer hard drive, or when a loved one receives life-saving cancer treatment -- both rely on Townes' lasers. In fact, today lasers are an essential part of modern telecommunications, guidance systems, computers, medical treatments (including surgery), civil construction, astronomy, weaponry, harnessing nuclear fusion for energy, and much, much more.
Estimates of the economic impact of lasers today run to trillions of dollars worldwide.
The message here? Revolutionary scientific discoveries can seem obscure and even unimportant when they are first made -- but can have enormous impact decades downstream, reaching into every part of our lives and rendering unimaginable a time when they were not there.
But they don't spring fully formed from the scientist's minds; they take time, sweat, passion, imagination -- and money.
Last month the Trump administration proposed devastating new cuts in funding for STEM research -- STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. President Donald Trump's first full budget proposes to slash research dollars by nearly 17% for fiscal year 2018.
Hard hit would be programs at the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology. In all, the cuts would strip $12.6 billion from researchers and research institutions.
Let's be clear: Scientists don't want or need handouts. Their students and research need support -- because America needs the results.
Townes' research on lasers was funded by the National Science Foundation and US Navy, not because of any immediate use for the technology but because of the importance of understanding the fundamental behavior of atoms and molecules.
Federal research funding is a long-term investment in our economic and national security. It pays for the equipment and grants that lead to big discoveries, such as the laser; it supports the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, who are working in the research trenches to solve the challenges that lie ahead for humanity, from a changing climate to workforce productivity and threats to human health.
Many of the most important discoveries are not the result of directed research -- they come from scientists trying to understand how the world works. How does matter behave (atoms, molecules and more fundamental particles)? How do cells operate? Are asteroids a threat or a resource? What is the ultimate fate of the universe?
Since the 1970s, federal investment in research and development has been on a downward trend relative to the economic growth it has largely enabled. And over the past decade, budgets for STEM research and development have declined 10% in purchasing power.
But scientific research requires continuity. A perfect example of the long-term nature of STEM research is the theory of quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of atoms and molecules. When it was being developed in the 1910s and '20s, this theory was pretty esoteric. But as Forbes magazine put it, "The entire computer industry is built on quantum mechanics."
History of stem cells
Experts in the field of regenerative medicine believe one of the first areas of success when using stem cell-derived therapies will be the treatment of macular degeneration, which causes progressive loss of sight, and other retinal diseases. Click through the gallery to learn more about stem cell research.
In January 2014, researchers announced they had developed a new method of making stem cells: by placing skin cells in an acidic environment. But the researchers retracted their papers in July, citing "several critical errors" in their study data.
Stem cells have the potential to become many kinds of cells and can renew themselves through cell division. Scientists view stem cells as a possible gateway to curing many medical conditions, from Parkinson's disease to diabetes. Stem cells are viewed on computer here at UConn Health Center in 2010.
A closeup of a microscope slide taken in 2000 at the Reproductive Genetics Institute's Chicago laboratory shows transplanted stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of a baby named Adam Nash. Adam's sister Molly has a genetic disease called Fanconi anemia. Their parents wanted to have a child who could be a stem cell donor for Molly. Using in vitro fertilization, doctors created embryos and then tested them for the genetic disease. They chose one that did not have the disorder, which grew into baby Adam. Molly received a stem cell transplant from stem cells from Adam's umbilical cord. Both children are alive today.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton requested a National Bioethics Advisory Commission to study the question of stem cell research.
In 2000, the National Institutes of Health issued guidelines for the use of embryonic stem cells in research, specifying that scientists receiving federal funds could use only extra embryos that would otherwise be discarded. President Clinton approved federal funding for stem cell research, but Congress did not fund it. Above, a Cell Expansion System, which is used to grow cells, is seen during the 2010 World Stem Cell Summit in Detroit.
In August 2001, President George W. Bush announced that he would allow federal funding for about 60 existing stem cell lines created before this date. Above, a human stem cell colony, which is no more than 1 millimeter wide and comprises thousands of individual stem cells, grows on mouse embryonic fibroblast in a research laboratory in September 2001.
In 2005, Connecticut and Illinois designated state funds to support stem cell research in their states. Above, a woman works on stem cells at the University of Connecticut's Stem Cell Institute at the UConn Health Center in August 2010 in Farmington.
In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that removed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. His action overturned an order approved by President George W. Bush in August 2001 that barred the National Institutes of Health from funding research on embryonic stem cells beyond using 60 cell lines that existed at that time.
In November 2010, William Caldwell, CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, said the FDA had granted approval for his company to start a clinical trial using cells grown from human embryonic stem cells. The treatment would be for an inherited degenerative eye disease. Above, dozens of packages containing frozen embryonic stem cells remain in liquid nitrogen in a laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo's human genome research center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 2008.
In May 2011, stem cell therapy in sports medicine was spotlighted after New York Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon was revealed to have had fat and bone marrow stem cells injected into his injured elbow and shoulder while in the Dominican Republic.
In February 2012, early research published by scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University showed that a patient's own stem cells can be used to regenerate heart tissue and help undo damage caused by a heart attack. It is the first instance of therapeutic regeneration. Above, fluid is removed from the knee of a patient to collect adult stem cells by at a clinic in Broomfield, Colorado.
In October 2012, Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering how to make pluripotent stem cells. They both showed that cells could be reprogrammed after they had specialized. This changed scientists' understanding of how cells and organisms develop.
On May 16, 2013, scientists announced that they had, for the first time, produced embryos using skin cells and then used the embryos to make stem cell lines. This technique resembles what was used in cloning Dolly the sheep, but the earlier technique could not have led to a fully cloned human baby. A photo provided by the Oregon Health & Science University shows a stem cell colony produced from human skin cells.
On August 5, 2013, the world's first stem cell burger was cooked and eaten in London. The brainchild of Maastricht University's Mark Post, the burger was made of 20,000 small strands of meat grown from a cow's muscle cells, took three months to create and cost $330,000 to develop.
In September 2013, scientists announced they had created what they are calling "cerebral organoids" using stem cells. These pea-sized structures are made of human brain tissue, and they can help researchers explore important questions about brain development and disorders that occur during these first stages of life.
Today, quantum mechanics powers most of the modern US economy and undergirds the future.
It's not rocket science: Politicians, economists and military leaders agree that investment in STEM is essential for the nation's economic prosperity and security. Top business leaders have joined universities and science groups to proclaim STEM investments a national imperative.
And Congress, with bipartisan support, recently increased research and development funding by 5% for this fiscal year, in the omnibus budget bill enacted last month.
So one might have been hopeful when just a few months ago, Trump celebrated the Hubble Space Telescope's exploration of the deep universe and looked forward to future discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor.
I'm astrophysicist, and I was encouraged. His enthusiasm reminded me of how Hubble discoveries and other scientific research have inspired the next generation of scientists, whom I am helping to train.
But if the President truly wishes to see America "expand the frontiers of knowledge," his actions much match his words. We need to invest in science now -- not just at NASA but across all fields.
We need to support research across STEM disciplines and cast a wide net for discovery.
Today the United States benefits from federal investments in decades past. The negative effects of sharp disinvestment now might not be clear for decades, longer than the careers of most policymakers, industry leaders or researchers.
Yet our leadership and strong economy, our ability to save humanity from terrible crises depend on our choices today. Let's choose science.