Viewpoint: Yes, the emphasis on the construction of large telescopes is a poor allocation of resources, as smaller telescopes offer accessibility and affordability that larger telescopes cannot match.

Viewpoint: No, the emphasis on the construction of large telescopes is not a poor allocation of resources; on the contrary, such large telescopes are indispensable to the research questions at the heart of modern astronomy.

At the time of its invention 400 years ago, the telescope was a crude and arcane instrument known to only a few brilliant scientists such as Galileo. Today, it is a commonplace item available in department...