Observatory director: Some say that funding the megatelescope will benefit only the astronomers who will work with it. This dangerous point of view, applied to the work of Maxwell, Newton, or Einstein, would have stifled their research and deprived the world of beneficial applications, such as the development of radio, that followed from that research.
It does not show that the proposed megatelescope research is worthy of comparison with that of eminent scientists in its potential for applications is the strongest criticism of the argument that the statements above are put forward as an argument in favor of development of the megatelescope.