“… né dolcezza di figlio, né la pieta del vecchio padre, né ‘l debito amore …”

Abstract

"Is there still basic research in the Earth Sciences?" In recent decades, leading researchers, policy makers and science operators have shown that there is no sustainable development without adequate funding programs of basic research. Whoever is approaching to world of scientific research in should be aware of the fundamental elements of the debate on these topics, as well as the steps that have most influenced the evolution of the concept of scientific research in the last hundred years. This note is meant to represent only a starting point for further readings and attempts at giving a brief overview of the evolution, over a century, of the concepts of basic and applied research, and their relation to society: from "academic" to "post-academic" science and from the "linear model" to the idea of a much more complex process that could describe the impact of science on society.