SCIENCE MISTRUSTED

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1934, Page 7

SCIENCE MISTRUSTED

ATTITUDE OF THE PUBLIC. MORE DISCUSSION DESIRABLE. The plea was often made on; behalf ©f flip "scientific community for ,a larger share in thfe conduct of public affairs, said Major F. A. Freeth, general manager of research for Imperial Chemical Industries,' in q lecture. But why-should science always be classified in Great Bri"something apart from ordinary life, why should scientists and .science-be to some extent mistrusted by •the general public. The attitude of the public always seemed to him to be a mixture of reverence and irritation, with perhaps a certain dash of Here, the lecturer' suggested, was a fixed habit of mind that' hindered progress. Making a protest against this curious attitude towards science, the lecturer said that in London one could meet many people who could talk with considerable knowledge, about archaeology, who could discuss Jung and Freud in a manner showing them to be abreast of current psychological theory, and who had read Eddington, Jeans, and even Einstein, though perhaps without understanding much of what these scientists wrote. But let the conversation turn to a relatively simple matter like converting heat into work, or to anything concerning a quantity or an intensity factor like amperes or volts, the same people would say the subject wqs scientific or technical and should, therefore, be kept for a special race of people but not discussed in civilised society. ‘There has been a great deal of talk about the necessity for politicians either to receive a scientific training or to have some appreciation of science,” proceeded Major Freeth. "I would like to suggest that if one could make elementary science a little more fashionable, apd if only the clever people I have referred to would turn their attention for a while to simplicities such as force, ppwer .and work, and then apply the principjes involyed to the ordinary quesr tiqns which come before them, we should have made a great step forward. I am suggesting that the majority of intelligent, people are scared of science without any reason at all, and if we could only find some way .of making them think a little it would be to the national gbqd,” .7