Milford chronicle., 1957-01-18
SCIENTISTS ENGINEERS

Editors all over the country are now call
ing to the attention of both parents and tea
chers the fact that this country needs more
scientists and engineers. This is a good year
to bring up the subject, since, in 1857, Ma
tional Science Fair is to be held in Los
Angeles.
Boys and girls who show the best science
exhibits in regional competition get alex
pense-paid trips to the National Science Fair,
and there they can compete for national
awards.
Regional eliminations are to be conduct
ed this spring, and youngsters must get an
early start on their projects to be able to
compete successfully. Students in the tenth,
eleventh and twelfth years of school are eli
gible to compete, and there is no restriction
on the types of projects and studies to be
entered. Also, almost anyone can sponsor
an entrant
Already, forty states are participatingen
the program, and it is hoped that the rest of
the states will participate by staging science
fairs. If you are interested, and you have
seen no indication of activity along this line
in this area, you can write for information to
the: Science Clubs of America, 1719 N.
street, N. w., Washington, D. c.
We hope that youngsters in this area will
be encouraged to become scientists and engi-
neers. Most Americans are aware of the
in graduating scientists and engineers by a
large margin. The strength of this country
lies in its industrialization and in its tech
nical superiority over its adversaries. We
are in danger Of losing this superiority and
should encourage our youngsters to become
scientists, engineers, and so on.
We hope the Russians do not do to us in
this field what they have done to us in the
atomic field, by their acknowledgements
mass participation programs. Therefore,
parents, teachers and prospective sponsors
should remember the 1857 Science Fair and
encourage youngsters in this community to
exhibit their talents in this direction.
@&Ss&%
NOT ALL-KNOWING
1t seems to us that Prof Harold c. Cas-
sidy of Yale's chemistry department is some
what ill-advised in censuring those who
raise questions about science and scientists.
Cassidy is quoted as saying that ''those in
our society who out of sheer ignorance have
an antagonism toward science and the scien-
tist" are members of an anti-intellectual fra
ternity who bring with them and breed an
atmosphere of contempt for all intellectual
pursuits, and thereby stife all liberal learn
ing.
That may be true as to those who speak
out of "sheer ignorance" Yet society can
raise some legitimate questions about scien-
lists, particularly in those areas where sci
entists step out of their own field and make
pronouncements, as specialists, where they
are only amateurs.
Part of the reason the world is in the
mess it is in today is that many scientists,
generation or two ago. undertook to speak
out on theology Freud, for example, even
wrote book on Moses and monotheism. 1t
is very poor book, but it has great pres
tige because of Freud's towering stature in
another field.
We are not questioning for a moment the
great contributions of science to modern
life. From baby food to TV, these have been
enormously helpful. At the same time, some
of the comments and social behavior of sci
entistS in fields other than their own-poli-
tics, for example; religion, for another-has
stimulated understandable apprehension
among nOn-scientists.
1t serves no good purpose to go around
calling these people an "anti-intellectual fra
ternity." Scientists, when they carry the au-
thority of science over into subject matter
with which they are familiar, have something
to answer for. 1t. is this kind of behavior
more than anything else, that has raised
questions about them.