By Paul Nurse The Observer, Sunday 2 September 2012 Stephen Hawking during the opening ceremony for the London Paralympics. Photograph: David Davies/PA Last week, science took pride of place alongside the athletes at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics. Under the guidance of the extraordinary Stephen Hawking, Prospero took Miranda and the rest of us on a voyage of scientific discovery, celebrating the Enlightenment that brought rationality to unlock the secrets of nature and to advance the rights of man.
This wonderful ceremony highlighted the achievement of human will in overcoming the adversity of disability and tackling the difficult problems of science. And it brought home to those of us who live on these "Isles of Wonder" that Britain was the birthplace of the Paralympics, and through the efforts of the Royal Society in the 17th century was also the birthplace of modern science. Science has done much to improve everyone's lives and has had a part to play in bringing us the great celebration of sport happening in London this summer. Ludwig Guttmann, the father of the Paralympic Games, a scientist and fellow of the Royal Society, was one of the first to recognise the important role sport can play in managing disability; science also underpins the medical and technological advances that help Paralympians in their athletics. Involving Stephen Hawking in the opening ceremony celebrated science's equivalent of a Paralympian, a man who has not let disability stand in the way of great achievement. He emphasised the burning curiosity of scientists and the wonder of the science they do – how Newton could link the fall of an apple with the movement of the planets, uniting the local with the universal. What has been good about the strong scientific element of the summer's ceremonies in Stratford is that although we have been good at science in Britain for the last 350 years we have not always been so quick to celebrate it. So how is science doing today? The answer is that it is doing pretty well. We saw Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, at the Olympic opening ceremony; we have the magnificent machine of the Large Hadron Collider searching for the ultimate nature of matter, a symbol of what humankind can achieve when it works together; we have the robot Curiosity roaming the surface of Mars searching for clues that life may have existed on another planet; we see the achievements of human genome sequencing bringing us insights into disease and what it is to be human. British scientists and scientists working in Britain have made and are making important contributions to these achievements and many more. Science is undergoing a resurgence in popularity in Britain. As well as the Olympics and Paralympics, in recent weeks we have also seen an ongoing upward trend in the numbers taking science subjects at both GCSE and A-level, and the government is strongly supportive of the teaching of science in schools (although we have to be careful that the loosening of curriculum requirements in free schools does not lead to problems in certain faith schools, where evidence-based science such as evolution runs counter to faith-based opinion). Science is becoming a more noticeable element of the TV schedules, with the redoubtable David Attenborough still building on nearly 50 years of explaining the wonders of the natural world and with Brian Cox and his hugely successful recent TV series. Then there are the inspirational popular science books such as those of Richard Dawkins and Martin Rees. Science is also key to the government's narrative on economic growth. Political pronouncements regularly note the role of science, engineering and innovation in sustainable economic growth. But most important is that we are really good at doing science in Britain. We have less than 1% of the world's population and 3% of the global funding for research, but we produce 8% of the world's research papers and 14% of the highest-impact papers. The Americans produce more but they also spend quite a lot more on it. We are world leaders in science and we should be proud of it. We need science now more than ever. It does provide the knowledge needed for the innovation that ultimately drives sustainable economic growth. George Osborne and Vince Cable need to ensure that science is at the forefront of their strategy for economic recovery. We need to invest in our science base if we are to stay ahead of our competitors. As well as being crucial for our economy, science is needed to improve our health and our quality of life. It can help solve the world's biggest problems: global health, water sustainability, providing enough food for the world, managing climate change. It influences nearly everything we do. The better we are at science, the better our lives will be, both here in Britain and in the rest of the world. Last Wednesday night, Prospero left the stage telling us that our greatest adventures still lie ahead and that is why it matters that we take science to our hearts and place it at the centre of our culture and our economy. The Paralympics opening ceremony was entitled "Enlightenment". The Enlightenment embodied curiosity and rationality, leading eventually to enrichment of our culture, to improvements in our health and quality of life, to democracy and the rights of man. It is time now for a new Enlightenment, one in which science must play its proper part. Science is and has always been one of Britain's greatest assets and I am confident that the time has come for a new deal between science and society. We have always been a pro-science nation but in typical understated British fashion we have not shouted about it. But recently there have been quite a few signs that we are becoming a little more proud of our past and current achievements. If we capitalise on the current surge of interest in science we can make this new Enlightenment a reality and, I believe, make the world a better place. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/02/paul-nurse-science-must-be-nurtured -- Avinash Shahi MPhil Research Learner Centre for the Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
