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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Nobel Scientists Criticize Bush Anti-Science Trend
USA Today is reporting on criticisms of Bush administration policy at the Nobel Prize events:
Two American Nobel Prize winners said Thursday they are worried about President Bush's attitude toward science and accused his administration of ignoring important research findings.
"There is a measure of denial of scientific evidence going on within our administration, and there are many scientists who are not happy about that," said Roy J. Glauber, who shared this year's physics prize with fellow American John L. Hall and Germany's Theodor W. Haensch. Their research on the quantum nature of light has resulted in more precise optical clocks and measuring systems, and is used in today's satellite positioning systems.
Glauber also said some U.S. Congress members are more concerned about the political consequence of research projects than their scientific importance when they decide where to allocate money.
"(The projects) are not evaluated scientifically, they are only evaluated politically," Glauber said . . . .
Scientists tend to prefer to stay above the fray, but the Bush administration has been so aggressively anti-science that many have begun to speak out. They get news coverage precisely because they so rarely address political matters at all. Of course, the Bush administration has its spin machine handy: "Administration officials have dismissed such concerns as misguided and accuse some scientists of playing politics — of attempting to undermine Bush administration policies by claiming they are based on bad science."
Posted by Robert Shull
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