ABSTRACT
Curiosity is the primary motive for being involved in science cited by scientists themselves. To gain a more detailed perspective on science and its historical development, this chapter examines the work of some selected scientists in their various historical, social, political, and economic contexts. It explains how pure scientific curiosity, the valuation of knowledge as worth having for its own sake, interacts in the real world with other motives, values, and pressures. The chapter also looks at some famous (and notorious) examples as well as some lesser-known figures, and also considers unfamiliar aspects of certain great scientists. A clue to the basic motivation of scientists is found in descriptions of their reactions to a discovery. The classic example is the famous story of ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes leaping from his bath and running naked through the streets exclaiming "Eureka!".
