I recognized that teaching and research institutions vitally depend on the involvement of active scientists also in management functions.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think there is value in having practising scientists as leaders of research institutions.
Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of the work they do.
At a time when science plays such a powerful role in the life of society, when the destiny of the whole of mankind may hinge on the results of scientific research, it is incumbent on all scientists to be fully conscious of that role, and conduct themselves accordingly.
I think science is a foreign land for many people, so I think of my role as an ambassador's job.
My title is intended to suggest that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a body politic and works according to economic principles similar to those by which the production of material goods is regulated.
We really think it is a good thing for scientists to spend a little bit of their time either in the community or in schools or helping to train high school teachers.
In big science, the role of the individual scientist must be carefully preserved. So is the one of original ideas and of contributions.
Admittedly, the body of scientists, as a whole, does uphold the authority of science over the lay public. It controls thereby also the process by which young men are trained to become members of the scientific profession.
Research is of considerable importance in certain fields, such as science and history.
In my grandfather's lab, scientists did independent research, and peers reviewed and commented on its merits. Politics, he taught me, had no place in the scientific process.