Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
—ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Although science is under siege, science advocates are fighting back.
On April 22, 2017, largely in response to the Trump administration’s anti-science positions, concerned citizens marched on behalf of science. In four hundred cities in the United States and six hundred cities around the world, “from the Washington Monument to Germany’s Brandenburg Gate and even to Greenland,” scientists came together to dramatize what was at stake. Millions of marchers carrying signs and banners and linking arms made their case that a future that abandoned scientific truths would be a bleak one. It was a staggeringly compelling moment.
I was asked to be one of the speakers at the March for Science in Philadelphia, which, despite the cold and rain, produced twenty thousand marchers. The organizers had asked four local scientists to speak. Each of the other speakers stood at the podium and delivered rousing, evangelical speeches, stopping at key phrases to enjoy loud, enthusiastic applause. It was impressive. Here were scientists whose talks were usually punctuated with phrases like “Next slide, please,” who were now delivering what could be characterized only as stump speeches. I was amazed that these other scientists could adapt to this situation so easily. And the crowds loved it.
My speech was a little tamer. When I walked up to the microphone and looked out at the throngs packing the amphitheater at Penn’s Landing, the Delaware River behind me, I felt like I was at a rock concert—like something out of the movie This Is Spinal Tap. And like a scene in Spinal Tap, which was about a rock group in serious decline, I considered starting my talk with a loud, “Hello, Cleveland!” But I figured no one would get the joke, and there’s nothing worse than beginning a talk with a bad joke (or ending a book with one).
Here’s what I said:
I was fortunate to participate with a team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that created a vaccine that prevents a disease called rotavirus, a vaccine that has reduced the incidence of this disease in the U.S. by about 90 percent and is estimated to save hundreds of lives a day in the world.
For twenty-five years, all of my funding came from the National Institutes of Health. I was funded by taxpayer dollars. In other words, the public paid my salary.
If the public funds us, then we owe it to them to explain what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and why it’s important.
Science is a privilege, not a right—and the taxpayer grants us that privilege.
I’m encouraged to see so many people out today across the country and the world—an army of citizen scientists. Let’s use this momentum to talk about science. To talk about how science has allowed us to live longer, better, healthier lives—how it has brought us out of the Age of Darkness and into the Age of Enlightenment.
We need to explain the importance of science to the media, to legislators, in church groups, PTA meetings, in elementary school classrooms, anyplace. No venue is too small. And by we, I mean anyone who is interested in science, including science teachers, science advocates, science enthusiasts, college students, high school students—anyone who loves science and can see what’s at stake here.
We owe it to the public to explain ourselves. If not, I worry that in this age of anti-enlightenment, when science seems to be losing its place as a source of truth, we won’t be able to do it for much longer.
So let’s take the enthusiasm that we’ve created today and use it to excite everyone else in this country about the importance of science.
During the past twenty years, I have become friends with many parents and child advocates who work for organizations like the Autism Science Foundation, Every Child By Two, Families Fighting Flu, the Immunization Action Coalition, the Immunization Partnership, Meningitis Angels, the National Meningitis Association, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases, and Voices for Vaccines, among many others, all remarkably dedicated to the health and well-being of children, and all remarkably generous with their time. It’s heartening to know that so many wonderful people are out there. And I would never have met them had I not chosen to stand up for science.