I'm not sure that Kickstarter style crowd-funding would work well for basic research. Two of the keys to its success are rewards, that mean that people who fund the project actually get something for their money, and projects that are of a reasonable scope to be completed within a year or so (while there are definitely projects that last longer, those also tend to be the ones that people are least happy about).
Basic science researcher generally doesn't produce very much that would be attractive as awards, and lots of good research will take years to complete.
Remember that crowdfunding is not just for new gadgets, but in general it's for new things that people want to consume; gadgets, art, music, games, and the like.
Basic science researcher generally doesn't produce very much that would be attractive as awards, and lots of good research will take years to complete.
Remember that crowdfunding is not just for new gadgets, but in general it's for new things that people want to consume; gadgets, art, music, games, and the like.