Scientific discovery and playing with toys
Physics, chemistry, and biology discoveries were almost always dependent on the technology available to peer into the workings of the natural world. There would be no cellular biology or molecular biology without microscopes or electron microscopes, no astronomy or classical mechanics without telescopes, no modern particle physics without particle accelerators, no analytical chemistry without spectrometers, and so on. Making scientific discoveries is frequently a matter of having access to the newest and most powerful toys.
