Among shortcomings to be faced are projects that burden the National Science Foundation, rising costs of graduate science education, lack of coördination in attacks on social problems, and the poor flow of information from scientists to Congress.
THIRTY YEARS AGO research in physics in the United States was a remote concern of government. Graduate students in this then pure science were the original do‐it‐yourself leaders and had to become as adept at begging and borrowing as they were in making equipment. Then came the discovery of fission, the second world war and the nuclear chain reaction. You well know the rest of the story. Congress was so impressed with the enormous new power derived from the science of physics that it enacted one of the most extraordinary laws in our history—the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.
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References
1. Harvey Brooks, “Future Needs for the Support of Basic Research,” Basic Research and National Goals, A report to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, US House of Representatives, by the National Academy of Sciences, 77 (1965).
Researchers don’t need to do science engagement alone. Working with professionals makes the job easier and more effective and can lead to better science.
Even a limited nuclear war could disrupt the climate, ecosystems, and global food supplies. Nuclear strategies and decisions should be required to factor in those potential consequences.
July 13, 2026 10:02 AM
This Content Appeared In
Volume 22, Number 10
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