[en] During the past thirty years research using high magnetic fields has technically evolved in the manner, but not the magnitude, of the so-called big science areas of particle physics, plasma physics, neutron scattering, synchrotron light scattering, and astronomy. Starting from the laboratories of individual researchers it moved to a few larger universities, then to centralized national facilities with research and maintenance staffs, and, finally, to joint international ventures to build unique facilities, as illustrated by the subject of this conference. To better understand the nature of this type of research and its societal justification it is helpful to compare it, in general terms, with the aforementioned big-science fields. High magnetic field research differs from particle physics, plasma physics, and astronomy in three respects: (1) It is generic research that cuts across a wide range of scientific disciplines in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering; (2) It studies materials and processes that are relevant for a variety of technological applications and it gives insight into biological processes; (3) It has produced, at least, comparably significant results with incomparably smaller resources. Unlike neutron and synchrotron light scattering, which probe matter, high magnetic fields change the thermodynamic state of matter. This change of state is fundamental and independent of other state variables, such as pressure and temperature. After the magnetic field is applied, various techniques are then used to study the new state