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Loyal and Bernice Durand: Science and technology would benefit from Obama presidency

Loyal and Bernice Durand  —  10/20/2008 6:19 am

Dear Editor: In a striking demonstration of the concern of the scientific community about the status and future of U.S. science, the three American winners of the just-announced Nobel prizes in science have all signed the letter of support for Barack Obama issued earlier by 62 past U.S. Nobel laureates in science.

Martin Chalfie (chemistry), who signed as his first action after hearing of his prize, explains his reasons in a YouTube video.

Obama stands for restoring integrity to the scientific advisory process, investing in quality science education for our children and young adults, and supporting research, technology and innovation, the engines of our country's economic progress. We cannot afford continuing ideological manipulation of scientific evidence for political purposes, and indifference to our real problems: declining technological leadership and competitiveness, the need for renewable energy sources, the control of greenhouse warming, furthering medical research and ensuring national security.

The near-demise of the great industrial research labs -- the sources of so much past innovation and development -- with the current distorted emphasis on short-term profit in the financial world, has severely damaged our ability to compete in a technological world economy. It is essential for our future that the nation itself invests directly in the science and innovation needed for future progress, and the education necessary for our young people to participate in the new economy.

Please consider this before voting.

Loyal and Bernice Durand
Cross Plains

Loyal and Bernice Durand  —  10/20/2008 6:19 am