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| Love of science, not Trump's ignorance, will make America great again | Love of science, not Trump's ignorance, will make America great again |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Amid a pandemic, the president rails against reason itself. The passions of his predecessors throw his failure into sharp relief | Amid a pandemic, the president rails against reason itself. The passions of his predecessors throw his failure into sharp relief |
| We know what the temperature was in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776, because Thomas Jefferson wrote it down at 6am (68F), 9am (72.25F), 1pm (76F), and 9pm (73.5F). Even on this most important day, the author of the Declaration of Independence was never too busy to observe nature. Scientific language helped as he scratched out the words, claiming it was “self-evident” that people had rights, based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”. | We know what the temperature was in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776, because Thomas Jefferson wrote it down at 6am (68F), 9am (72.25F), 1pm (76F), and 9pm (73.5F). Even on this most important day, the author of the Declaration of Independence was never too busy to observe nature. Scientific language helped as he scratched out the words, claiming it was “self-evident” that people had rights, based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”. |
| Like so many of the founders, Jefferson is in the middle of a convulsive reappraisal, one of many ways in which the country feels deeply divided as it enters its birthday weekend. If history is adding to our stress, science is not far behind. When Dr Anthony Fauci testified in Congress this week, it was difficult to know what was worse, his prediction that huge numbers of people will still get sick with Covid-19, or his regret that so many Americans remain stubbornly “anti-science”. The two are, of course, connected. | Like so many of the founders, Jefferson is in the middle of a convulsive reappraisal, one of many ways in which the country feels deeply divided as it enters its birthday weekend. If history is adding to our stress, science is not far behind. When Dr Anthony Fauci testified in Congress this week, it was difficult to know what was worse, his prediction that huge numbers of people will still get sick with Covid-19, or his regret that so many Americans remain stubbornly “anti-science”. The two are, of course, connected. |
| It is an odd paradox that a country so technologically advanced should be in some sense hostile to the science that lifted it so high. Yet it has been true since the beginning. Some of these tensions go back even earlier, to the Great Awakening of the 1740s, when rural crowds were whipped into frenzies against educated coastal elites, denounced as Pharisees, who knew nothing of the genuine gospel. | It is an odd paradox that a country so technologically advanced should be in some sense hostile to the science that lifted it so high. Yet it has been true since the beginning. Some of these tensions go back even earlier, to the Great Awakening of the 1740s, when rural crowds were whipped into frenzies against educated coastal elites, denounced as Pharisees, who knew nothing of the genuine gospel. |
| But when the US became a reality, these tensions receded, replaced by a commitment to factuality and reason, helpful in the military and diplomatic struggle of the revolution. No one better symbolized the Enlightenment than Benjamin Franklin, whose scientific reputation came in handy when it was urgent to impress the French. One of his nicknames was “l’ambassadeur éléctrique” – the electric ambassador, after his famous experiment with lightning. | |
| Nearly every major founder joined the American Philosophical Society, including George Washington, John Adams and James Madison. Jefferson even served as its president and contributed research on insects, fossils and the new flora and fauna coming in from the west during his other presidency – of the United States. | Nearly every major founder joined the American Philosophical Society, including George Washington, John Adams and James Madison. Jefferson even served as its president and contributed research on insects, fossils and the new flora and fauna coming in from the west during his other presidency – of the United States. |
| This commitment to science always helped as Americans struggled to find their footing on the world’s stage. It is undeniable that deep racial inequities were built into the system, undermining democracy from the start. But the founders expected later generations to tinker with the structure they were building, as if it were a mechanical object, like those depicted in the engravings of Diderot’s Encyclopedia, full of interlocking parts that could be adjusted to bear new weight. | This commitment to science always helped as Americans struggled to find their footing on the world’s stage. It is undeniable that deep racial inequities were built into the system, undermining democracy from the start. But the founders expected later generations to tinker with the structure they were building, as if it were a mechanical object, like those depicted in the engravings of Diderot’s Encyclopedia, full of interlocking parts that could be adjusted to bear new weight. |
| Some presidents were more attuned to science than others. But even those who were not maintained a decent respect for the tradition established by the founders. Andrew Jackson wore his lack of education like a badge of honor, but he was ultimately a pragmatist. He and his successors created new offices to map the continent and sent expeditions into the Pacific and the Middle East. In Washington, a pride in science began to alter the city’s skyline, with the Smithsonian castle and a handsome Greek Revival Patent Office, a temple to American ingenuity. | Some presidents were more attuned to science than others. But even those who were not maintained a decent respect for the tradition established by the founders. Andrew Jackson wore his lack of education like a badge of honor, but he was ultimately a pragmatist. He and his successors created new offices to map the continent and sent expeditions into the Pacific and the Middle East. In Washington, a pride in science began to alter the city’s skyline, with the Smithsonian castle and a handsome Greek Revival Patent Office, a temple to American ingenuity. |
| One aspiring inventor was an obscure lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, who in 1849 sent in a design for a device to lift a boat over a sandbar. Abraham Lincoln may have been under-educated, like Jackson, but he remains the only president with a patent to his name. Science and mathematics were crucial to his growth. The earliest known Lincoln documents are arithmetic assignments and he explained that the Greek mathematician Euclid taught him how to win an argument, to prove a “proposition”. That Euclidean word appears at the beginning of the Gettysburg Address, which sets out to “prove” Jefferson’s argument that all men are created equal. | One aspiring inventor was an obscure lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, who in 1849 sent in a design for a device to lift a boat over a sandbar. Abraham Lincoln may have been under-educated, like Jackson, but he remains the only president with a patent to his name. Science and mathematics were crucial to his growth. The earliest known Lincoln documents are arithmetic assignments and he explained that the Greek mathematician Euclid taught him how to win an argument, to prove a “proposition”. That Euclidean word appears at the beginning of the Gettysburg Address, which sets out to “prove” Jefferson’s argument that all men are created equal. |
| Under Lincoln, science advanced mightily, playing a significant role in winning the civil war. The National Academy of Sciences was founded in 1863. Lincoln also established a medical research unit of the army that continues to do important research on viruses. (In 2005, it resequenced old flu specimens from the 1918 pandemic.) The White House turned into a weapons lab of sorts, as inventors tried to get their products to a president eager to try them out, often personally. More than 20,000 patents were issued in the North during the war years. | |
| In the South, it was different. With fewer cities, universities and immigrants, the Confederacy could not innovate on the same scale. Only 266 patents are known, or one for every hundred in the north. By its very nature, slavery depended on the suppression of information. That proved to be a fatal flaw. | In the South, it was different. With fewer cities, universities and immigrants, the Confederacy could not innovate on the same scale. Only 266 patents are known, or one for every hundred in the north. By its very nature, slavery depended on the suppression of information. That proved to be a fatal flaw. |
| Later presidents understood that democracy grew stronger as people acquired more knowledge, at every level, including the state universities that also stemmed from Lincoln’s presidency. The teaching of science improved and American discoveries began to be noticed on the world stage. Of course, “anti-science” did not disappear completely. In the famous Scopes trial of 1925, in Dayton, Tennessee, an epic trial was fought over the teaching of evolution and a former secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, did all he could to resist the forces of progress. But by then, science was an established fact, in a nation that liked facts. | Later presidents understood that democracy grew stronger as people acquired more knowledge, at every level, including the state universities that also stemmed from Lincoln’s presidency. The teaching of science improved and American discoveries began to be noticed on the world stage. Of course, “anti-science” did not disappear completely. In the famous Scopes trial of 1925, in Dayton, Tennessee, an epic trial was fought over the teaching of evolution and a former secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, did all he could to resist the forces of progress. But by then, science was an established fact, in a nation that liked facts. |
| Since then, many Republicans and Democrats have occupied the White House, and nearly all have followed the lead of the founders in letting the facts speak for themselves. Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer. When Franklin D Roosevelt ran for the White House in 1932 he used a scientist’s language to demand “bold, persistent experimentation”. Like Lincoln, he became a wartime commander, and understood how useful scientists could be in a national emergency. | Since then, many Republicans and Democrats have occupied the White House, and nearly all have followed the lead of the founders in letting the facts speak for themselves. Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer. When Franklin D Roosevelt ran for the White House in 1932 he used a scientist’s language to demand “bold, persistent experimentation”. Like Lincoln, he became a wartime commander, and understood how useful scientists could be in a national emergency. |
| It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which science and government have reinforced each other since then. But a short list of highlights would include the moon landings, Darpa’s work toward the internet, and the Human Genome Project. Each was a tribute to bipartisanship and the confident embrace of knowledge. | It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which science and government have reinforced each other since then. But a short list of highlights would include the moon landings, Darpa’s work toward the internet, and the Human Genome Project. Each was a tribute to bipartisanship and the confident embrace of knowledge. |
| That feels like a long time ago. In a very different moment, when science is most needed, “anti-science” is at the helm. | That feels like a long time ago. In a very different moment, when science is most needed, “anti-science” is at the helm. |
| How it survived all those decades of scientific achievement would require a different essay, about the surprising vulnerability of science before its natural enemies: falsehood, emotion and a refusal to believe the evidence. It would include sections on the lingering evangelical hatred for Darwin, long after the humiliations of the Scopes trial, and all the creative ways lobbyists explained away health problems caused by nicotine, DDT and other toxins. It would culminate in the story of our non-response to climate change, which, by its Alice in Wonderland logic, requires all science to become suspect. | How it survived all those decades of scientific achievement would require a different essay, about the surprising vulnerability of science before its natural enemies: falsehood, emotion and a refusal to believe the evidence. It would include sections on the lingering evangelical hatred for Darwin, long after the humiliations of the Scopes trial, and all the creative ways lobbyists explained away health problems caused by nicotine, DDT and other toxins. It would culminate in the story of our non-response to climate change, which, by its Alice in Wonderland logic, requires all science to become suspect. |
| That self-inflicted wound made it inevitable that the US would underperform when science was most needed, in the early months of 2020. | That self-inflicted wound made it inevitable that the US would underperform when science was most needed, in the early months of 2020. |
| It will be a challenge for future historians to explain how a country that gained so much from science suddenly abandoned its faith in the facts. But a reckoning is surely coming – the laws of Nature and Nature’s God are still in force. Even in these unhappy times it is a consolation to go back to the beginning, to read the words of our first president, in his first message to Congress, at the beginning of a national story he called “the Great Experiment” – a scientist’s phrase. | It will be a challenge for future historians to explain how a country that gained so much from science suddenly abandoned its faith in the facts. But a reckoning is surely coming – the laws of Nature and Nature’s God are still in force. Even in these unhappy times it is a consolation to go back to the beginning, to read the words of our first president, in his first message to Congress, at the beginning of a national story he called “the Great Experiment” – a scientist’s phrase. |
| “There is nothing,” George Washington said, “which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.” | “There is nothing,” George Washington said, “which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.” |
| Ted Widmer is distinguished lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. His latest book, Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington, was just published | Ted Widmer is distinguished lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. His latest book, Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington, was just published |
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