Scientists and society

It is customary when a Washington bureaucrat gives an after‐dinner speech for him to discuss something about his own agency, its past achievements, its aims and ambitions, its predictions for the future. However, I speak to you tonight from an anomalous position. I am a “lame duck” in one agency and an unhatched egg in another. It would be presumptuous of me to discuss the problems or the future of either. I have chosen, therefore, to give you briefly a few of the general impressions I have gained during my two years and one week as a scientist in government. Specifically I would like to speak of the responsibilities of scientists in the society of today.

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