Does society still value the inquiry of science?

Does society still value the inquiry of science?

In previous time periods knowledge of the world around us was considered a luxury.
Scientists where looked up too and admired for what they did much like we do to celebrities today. But unlike celebrities these scientist actually did something that benefited mankind, like finding cures for diseases or figuring out that the earth was round instead of dunking a basketball or getting into a bar fight on television.
Even though we sometimes take science for granted, I wouldn’t say we don’t value it at all. People are now focusing on the latest TECHNOLOGY (i.e. apple products, computers, internet, etc.). So it’s not that people look down upon science, it’s just that people aren’t worried about it because they are to busy upgrading to the next big Phone and downloading applications.