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20Apr

From curiosity to prosperity: sharing the gains of science

Hosted by the Department of Geography and Environment
In-person public event (Malaysia Auditorium, Centre Building)
Monday 20 April 2026 6.30pm - 8pm

Why should governments back “Big Science” when discoveries are uncertain and the benefits may seem distant from taxpayers’ daily lives? In this public lecture, France A Córdova—astrophysicist and former Director of the US National Science Foundation, NASA Chief Scientist, and President of the Science Philanthropy Alliance—explores how curiosity-driven research and the large infrastructures that enable it deliver value well beyond the lab.

Drawing on international experience, she will examine why these projects are often built through cross-border collaboration even as costs and operations are concentrated in particular places, and how this geography shapes debates about accountability, fairness, and who benefits.

The talk will consider practical ways to assess impacts beyond core science—from procurement and supply chains to knowledge spillovers, skills formation and entrepreneurship—and how public policy, partnerships and philanthropy can help measure and maximise that value locally and nationally.

Designed for a wide audience, the lecture addresses the central question facing science policy today: how to connect frontier discovery to broad societal benefit while maintaining the long-term ambition that keeps science moving forward.

Meet our speaker and chair

France Córdova is an internationally recognized astrophysicist and president of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, whose mission is to advance science through visionary philanthropy.

Córdova was the 14th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she served in the role from 2014 to 2020. This appointment followed Cordova’s earlier nomination to the National Science Board by President George W Bush.

Córdova is president emerita of Purdue University and chancellor emerita of the University of California, Riverside. She was the youngest person and first woman to serve as NASA’s chief scientist and was awarded the agency's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal.

Córdova’s research is in the areas of observational and experimental astrophysics, multi-spectral research on x-ray and gamma ray sources, and space-borne instrumentation. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University and her doctorate in physics from the California Institute of Technology. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS).

Riccardo Crescenzi (@crescenzi_r) is Professor of Economic Geography at LSE. He is currently the LSE Principal Investigator of a large collaborative research project funded by Horizon Europe and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on inequalities in the era of global megatrends.

Larry Kramer has been President and Vice Chancellor of LSE since April 2024. A constitutional scholar, university administrator, and philanthropic leader, he was previously the President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dean of Stanford Law School.

More about this event

The Department of Geography and Environment (@LSEGeography) is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change.

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

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