Congressman Ehlers on Science Policy

“Literary intellectuals at one pole - at the other scientists, and as the most representative, the physical scientists. Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension - sometimes (particularly among the young) hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding.” -- C.P. Snow, 1959

Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan) addressed the Physics Department of the University of Maryland this week, focusing his address on bridging the gap between the “two cultures” of scientists and non-scientists. Ehlers, a physicist, called on the students and faculty to participate in policy formation for “the good of your country” and for “your science.”

Ehlers is the vice chairman of the House Science Committee, and was recently appointed to head a congressional effort to frame a new federal science policy. In making his remarks, he emphasized the need for a forward-looking rather than historically-based science policy, which goes beyond Congress’s and the public’s traditional focus on short term problems.

Quoting the “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution” lecture given by C.P. Snow in 1959, Ehlers said there is still a cultural division between scientists and non-scientists. It has “become fashionable to be ignorant about science,” he said, adding that an “anti-science” philosophy has developed. While most Members of Congress know more about science than the general public, they are, Ehlers declared, still “woefully lacking in scientific knowledge.”

Ehlers described three different periods in America’s support for science, stating that in this post cold war period there is not a well-defined policy to guide the federal government. He criticized Congress for not doing a good job in considering its support for basic and applied research, being especially critical of an approach advanced earlier in the decade for the National Science Foundation to engage in “strategic research.” Ehlers was unhappy with the administration’s formulation of science policy, saying we are “suffering on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.”

House Science Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) have asked Ehlers to write a new federal science policy. This policy is to be forward-looking, and is to outline the roles of the federal, state, and international governments; industry; and universities. Ehlers will emphasize the unique nature of scientific inquiry. Concerning international cooperation, he said future mega-science projects would have to be international, although he derided the use of “ad hoc” agreements, such as the proposed US-CERN agreement for the LHC. The representative also wants to speed the use of scientific discoveries, citing the way in which agricultural research is utilized quickly by farmers. Ehlers said the science policy document would be concise, coherent, and comprehensive, written so that his fellow Members of Congress could quickly read it. It will be, he said, a “visionary statement” without much detail.

Ehlers called for scientists to act as “advocates for science,” ready to offer help quickly on a local basis. He described his own volunteer work for then Congressman Gerald Ford in Michigan, leading up to his current position. Concluding his presentation, Ehlers told his scientific audience that “you have a responsibility to bridge the two cultures.”