I would like to extend the thought to include the self-confidence of scientists and the respect in which science is held in all scientific endeavour today. In the United States, and I sense to some degree in the rest of the world, science has lost its own internal confidence and the confidence of the lay public in it. Science is held responsible for the doubts that it has raised about the existence and nature of God, as explained by medieval man, with all the moral questions those doubts raise. Science is blamed for the development of weapons which can end civilization in seconds. Science is charged with providing the modern industrial processes which contaminate the environment and allow the population to increase to the point that life is not as full as many wish.
Science is feared when it begins to experiment with the more fundamental aspects of genetics.
And so, in many places, there is a turning of the back on science and scientists, at least in those areas which might be oriented towards further development of modern applied technology. Some scientists have accepted this value judgment. Many of the most brilliant have turned from working on or supporting any subject, including fusion, which might have direct, practical results. Perhaps it is precisely in this context that we should examine and try to learn from the life and contribution of Lev Andreevich Artsimovich. We may help re-establish that no one need fear shining the bright searchlight of the human mind on the many remaining dark corners of our understanding of the universe around us.