From curiosity to prosperity: sharing the gains of science

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 Anne-Dominic Córdova is an astrophysicist and global science leader who served as the 14th Director of the US National Science Foundation (2014–2020), where she advanced a cross-government agenda for basic research and launched major strategic initiatives. She is currently President of the Science Philanthropy Alliance. Previously, Dr Córdova was NASA’s Chief Scientist—the first woman and, at the time, the youngest person to hold the role—and led major US research universities as President of Purdue University and Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. She has authored more than 150 scientific publications and is a fellow of leading scientific academies.

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.

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