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In praise of … John Beddington In praise of … John Beddington
(6 months later)
Politics may not be the enemy of scientific method, but they are hardly intimate friends. Science inches along by experiment, evidence and testing (and retesting); politics is often about bold moves executed on personal judgment. So the chief scientific adviser to the government has his or her work cut out. But John Beddington, who has held the post since 2008 and retires this month, has trodden a thin line with grace. Three crises broke on his watch – the Icelandic volcano eruptions, Fukushima and ash dieback disease – and in each he showed a useful caution: compare the political hysteria over Fukushima in Germany with the calm that prevailed here. Mr Beddington has also been an advocate for science, by spearheading the push to install a chief scientist in each Whitehall department. And in raising the alarm about "a perfect storm" of rising population, falling energy resources and food shortages, he did the right and brave thing.Politics may not be the enemy of scientific method, but they are hardly intimate friends. Science inches along by experiment, evidence and testing (and retesting); politics is often about bold moves executed on personal judgment. So the chief scientific adviser to the government has his or her work cut out. But John Beddington, who has held the post since 2008 and retires this month, has trodden a thin line with grace. Three crises broke on his watch – the Icelandic volcano eruptions, Fukushima and ash dieback disease – and in each he showed a useful caution: compare the political hysteria over Fukushima in Germany with the calm that prevailed here. Mr Beddington has also been an advocate for science, by spearheading the push to install a chief scientist in each Whitehall department. And in raising the alarm about "a perfect storm" of rising population, falling energy resources and food shortages, he did the right and brave thing.
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