From PETER BEDSON
Mike Price is mistaken to assume that the difficulty with science’s
relationship with society is that only mediocre scientists leave the fold
to work in ‘administration’, where they forever bear the weight of huge
chips on their shoulders against their clever colleagues (‘Failed scientist
makes good’, Forum, 2 June). Instead, the conveyor-belt school-university-PhD
system means that too few good scientists appreciate the rewards outside
– preferring low-grade research jobs where they can wear the coveted white
coats, but which are boring dead ends. They then write letters and articles
bewailing the fate of British science in general and their own specialism
in particular.
Come on you lot! The world awaits; there is more to life than washing
glassware – you have nothing to lose but your prejudice. Good scientists
in business and government help link science to the rest of the world, as
well as curtailing the wilder excesses of either group. Would the US fund
so many wildly expensive projects if the costs and likely benefits had been
properly understood by those responsible for the money?
Peter Bedson London
