fidence in science was blamed on the influence 

 of the media. For example, Richard A. 

 Greenberg, Vice President, Research and 

 Development of Swift & Company stated that: 



The primary problem is an increasing expression 

 ot distrust by the average citizen regarding the 

 true benefits of technological advancement and 

 the motives of the scientific community. This 

 distrust has been vocalized not only by consumer 

 activists who are questioning the entire fabric of 

 American society, but also by scientists who 

 express publicly their fears of potential harmful 

 effects from new technology. The press supplies 

 a ready platform for both factions. As a conse- 

 quence, the public has been subjected to an 

 almost constant barrage of anti-science verbiage. 



Similarly, C. J. Meechan, Vice President, 

 Research and Engineering, of Rockwell Inter- 

 national said: 



There is an apparent decreasing general public 

 confidence in research scientists and an 

 associated poor image of basic research efforts. 



This problem appears at least partially created by 

 the lack of general public understanding of the 

 sophisticated, complex, abstract and seemingly 

 remote scientific issues. It may also be ex- 

 aggerated by somewhat unbalanced and unin- 

 formed reporting of scientific activities by the 

 mass media. If trends continue, it could result in a 

 near complete lack of general public support for 

 basic research and a slipping of the research 

 scientist into a position of irrelevancy. Continued 

 trends in this direction have not only the effect of 

 reducing financial support, but they reduce the 

 prestige of the profession. This may discourage 

 bright, young students from entering a scientific 

 career. 



EFFECTS OF 



DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE 



The preceding quotation also suggests that 

 the public's negative attitude may reduce the 

 number of young people entering careers in the 

 sciences. Thus one of the main issues discussed 

 in Chapter 4 can be traced to the present issue of 

 public attitudes. The same position was taken 

 by Harvey B. Willard, Vice Provost and Dean of 



Science at Case Western Reserve University, 

 who felt that one of the two most important 

 issues facing fundamental research in the near 

 future is: 



the overall climate in this country which has 

 resulted in discouraging a significant number of 

 our very best young people from entering careers 

 in science. . . . 



[This] problem is complexly related to the 

 negative attitudes generated by the Viet Nam War 

 and Watergate, to concerns about pollution and 

 environment, and to the state of the nation's 

 economy. Our young people have questioned 

 past practices in most of the established in- 

 stitutions and science has not escaped from their 

 critical eyes. While there are also positive 

 benefits, such as making us all more responsible, 

 the net effect has contributed to the reduction in 

 numbers of our very best young people choosing 

 science as a lifetime career. Other fields also 

 require outstanding people in order to flourish, 

 but it is most unfortunate that more of those with 

 high aptitude for science do not enter the field. 



Other university respondents indicated ad- 

 ditional problems that they attributed to 

 negative attitudes on the part of the public. 

 George K. Davis, Director of Sponsored 

 Research at the University of Florida, pointed to 

 a pressure to do teaching rather than research, 

 and difficulties related to research support, 

 allocation of personnel, attracting capable 

 young people, and a retreat of some in- 

 vestigators te safer fields: 



It appears to me that a primary problem is the 

 public misunderstanding of the role of fundamen- 

 tal research in our society. Symptoms of this 

 appear in demands of legislators that university 

 staff put more time into teaching and less in 

 research "frills." The so-called Bauman amend- 

 ment is an evidence of such misunderstanding. 

 There is respect for the accomplishments of 

 science but an attitude that what we need now is 

 rapid transfer of existing knowledge. 



This misunderstanding of the role and function of 

 fundamental research pervades many levels of 

 society and, in turn, results in serious roadblocks 

 in terms of support, allocation of personnel, 



CONFIDENCE IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



79 



