The Usefulness of Unusual Knowledge

The usefulness of useless knowledge is something that often goes unappreciated by people. Abraham Flexner wrote an essay on the topic in which he cited a number of examples where someone was able to transfer what appeared to be useless knowledge to other areas with major applied importance. The mathematical equations of James Clark Maxwell were thought to be useless at the time he formulated them but years later they became much more important. Gugliemmo Marconi invented wireless telegraphy using this useless knowledge before anyone had even heard of it. Michael Faraday discovered induction of electric current from magnets without all of the above useless knowledge I would not be writing these words as I'm doing now after sunset.