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http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/deresiewicz?rel=hp_picks
"The most striking thing about the way we talk about science these
days is just how little we talk about it at all. No large fundamental
question focuses our attention on the adventure of discovery; no grand
public project stirs our reflection on the perils of technological
control. Nothing for decades has approached the imaginative impact of
relativity or the double helix, the moon landing or the bomb."

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/27651
"UI to terminate physics program"

OLDER NEWS:

http://www.nyas.org/publications/UpdateUnbound.asp?UpdateID=41
Lee Smolin: "Then, about 30 years ago, something changed. The last
time there was a definitive advance in our knowledge of fundamental
physics was the construction ofthe theory we call the standard model
of particle physics in 1973. The last time a fundamental theory was
proposed that has since gotten any support from experiment was a
theory about the very early universe called inflation, which was
proposed in 1981....A growing number of theoretical physicists, myself
among them, see the present situation as a crisis that requires us to
reexamine the assumptions behind our so-far unsuccessful theories. I
should emphasize that this crisis involves only fundamental physics
that part of physics concerned with discovering the laws of nature."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/ingdahl2.html
"But there has been a marked global decrease of students willing to
study physics, and funding has decreased accordingly. Not only that,
the best students are not heading for studies in physics, finding
other fields more appealing, and science teachers to schools are
getting scarcer in supply. In fact, warning voices are being heard
about the spread of a "scientific illiteracy" where many living in
technologically advanced societies lack the knowledge and the ability
for critical thinking in order to function in their daily
environment."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/nov/22/schools.g2
"We are nearing the end of the "World Year of Physics", otherwise
known as Einstein Year, as it is the centenary of his annus mirabilis
in which he made three incredible breakthroughs, including special
relativity. In fact, it was 100 years ago yesterday that he published
the most famous equation in the history of physics: E=mc2. But instead
of celebrating, physicists are in mourning after a report showed a
dramatic decline in the number of pupils studying physics at school.
The number taking A-level physics has dropped by 38% over the past 15
years, a catastrophic meltdown that is set to continue over the next
few years. The report warns that a shortage of physics teachers and a
lack of interest from pupils could mean the end of physics in state
schools. Thereafter, physics would be restricted to only those
students who could afford to go to posh schools. Britain was the home
of Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Paul Dirac, and Brits made world-
class contributions to understanding gravity, quantum physics and
electromagnetism - and yet the British physicist is now facing
extinction. But so what? Physicists are not as cuddly as pandas, so
who cares if we disappear?"

http://www.i-sem.net/press/jmll_isem_palermo.pdf
"La science souffre dune forte perte de crédit, au sens propre comme
au sens figuré : son soutien politique et économique, comme sa
réputation intellectuelle et culturelle connaissent une crise grave."

http://dogma.free.fr/txt/EK-ScienceQuiestion.htm
"Par ailleurs, on remarque quaujourdhui, les thèses « relativistes »,
par exemple celle de Paul Féyerabend, ont un impact très fort,
notamment dans les milieux étudiants. Même si leur diffusion
saccompagne de contresens et de malentendus, elles servent de socle à
des critiques de plus en plus vives adressées aux professionnels de la
recherche : Votre science dit-elle réellement le vrai ? Comment osez-
vous prétendre quelle se réfère à la rationalité alors que les
jugements esthétiques, les préjugés métaphysiques et autres désirs
subjectifs imprégnent sinon sa démarche tout entière, du moins
certaines de ses phases ? Votre légitimité incontestée est-elle fondée
sur autre chose que des effets de pouvoir ?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/nov/27/science-easier-exams
"Pupils of today struggle with science questions of the 60s. Evidence
shows standards are slipping as comparison is made of exam papers
through the decades. There has been a "catastrophic slippage" in
standards of science taught in schools, leaving children with a
superficial understanding of chemistry, biology and physics, according
to the Royal Society of Chemistry."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/may/22/highereducation.education
Harry Kroto: "The wrecking of British science....The scientific method
is based on what I prefer to call the inquiring mindset. It includes
all areas of human thoughtful activity that categorically eschew
"belief", the enemy of rationality. This mindset is a nebulous mixture
of doubt, questioning, observation, experiment and, above all,
curiosity, which small children possess in spades. I would argue that
it is the most important, intrinsically human quality we possess, and
it is responsible for the creation of the modern, enlightened portion
of the world that some of us are fortunate to inhabit. Curiously, for
the majority of our youth, the educational system magically causes
this capacity to disappear by adolescence.....Do I think there is any
hope for UK? I am really not sure."

http://plus.maths.org/issue37/features/Einstein/index.html
"Einstein restored faith in the unintelligibility of science. Everyone
knew that Einstein had done something important in 1905 (and again in
1915) but almost nobody could tell you exactly what it was. When
Einstein was interviewed for a Dutch newspaper in 1921, he attributed
his mass appeal to the mystery of his work for the ordinary person:
Does it make a silly impression on me, here and yonder, about my
theories of which they cannot understand a word? I think it is funny
and also interesting to observe. I am sure that it is the mystery of
non-understanding that appeals to themit impresses them, it has the
colour and the appeal of the mysterious."

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com