In an interview with University of Toronto Magazine, Summer 1994, Professor Adrian Brook, chemist, on receiving a 1994 Killam Memorial Prize for lifetime contributions to science, said, ``I cannot predict what is going to come from my research. I'm creating knowledge and it may require another generation to recognize how that knowledge can be applied to some practical problem. ... Application may follow discovery, but the real value of basic research is in the knowledge we gain.''

To the observation that hard economic times have changed society's view of research; while in awe of technology and looking to it to solve problems, the public is wary of money unwisely spent and so wants results it can see and understand, Professor Brook replied ``I think that's a proper and reasonable expectation up to a point, but if I had been under that mandate I would never have able to do the research I have done.''

``My ideal was to search out the brightest and best scientists and back them rather than try to provide support for work in particular sectors. What those who have no real understanding of science are inclined to overlook is that in science - just as in the arts - the greatest achievements cannot be planned and predicted: they result from the unique creativity of a particular mind.'' Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years, p. 639