The purpose of the Golden Goose Award is to demonstrate the human and/or economic benefits of federally funded scientific research. It is also intended to demonstrate that scientific outcomes build upon each other and that the technological advances that flow from them cannot easily be predicted at the outset of a particular scientific research project. The award highlights and honors examples of scientific studies or research that may have seemed obscure, sounded "funny," or for which the results were totally unforeseen at the outset, but which ultimately led, often serendipitously, to major breakthroughs that have had significant societal impact.
See http://www.goldengooseaward.org/ for details.
