10 quotes about science’s value to society

Since the post-World War II era began, the USA has led the world in science by investing in all aspects of the endeavor as is relevant to society: foundationally, educationally, and through investing in both fundamental and practical research programs to push the frontiers of human knowledge forward. Abandoning these principles, this roadmap, and a sustained investment in the scientific endeavor ensures the abdication of science leadership, ceding it to the rest of the world.

A cross-section of the Wealden Dome, in the south of England, which required hundreds of millions of years just to explain the erosion features observed, with fossils of past life found in the different layers. The chalk deposits on either side, absent in the center, provide evidence for an incredibly long geological timescale required to produce this structure. Darwin’s estimates for Earth’s age, both geologically and biologically, helped guide astronomers toward uncovering the process powering the stars and the age of the Universe.

The launch of Cassini, on October 15, 1997. This spectacular streak shot was taken from Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with a solid rocket booster retrieval ship in the foreground. The lessons we learn from exploring the Universe often translate to improvements in the quality of life here on Earth, especially on a long-term basis. Investing in endeavors in science, from geology to biology to astrophysics, often pays large dividends in the future and holds enormous returns-on-investment, benefitting all of society.

Ultraviolet, visible, and infrared lasers can all be used to break apart graphene oxide to create sheets of graphene using the technique of laser-engraving. The right panels show scanning electron microscope images of the graphene produced at various scales. All of the advances in modern microscopy and imaging can trace their origins back toward early experiments with optical lenses, which date back many hundreds of years, with the compound microscope first being invented in the late 1500s.

This seemingly idyllic 2012 photo of a village in North Korea, along the Yalu River delta, papers over an inconvenient truth about food insecurity within the country. By leveling forests to make room for more farmland in the late 20th century, the threat of famine has been omnipresent in North Korea ever since, as the landscape has been altered in a fashion that makes the entire country less resilient to the effects of floods and droughts. Had North Korea based their agricultural practices on the best science of the day, this would not have led to the starvation of millions of North Koreans over the years.

This graph shows NASA’s budget, from 1959-2025, as a percent of the total federal budget. The proposed budget for the fiscal year 2026 would cut NASA’s funding, overall, by 6.8 billion dollars: its largest cut since its inception. The greatest cuts are slated to come to NASA’s science mission directorate, which is the branch that leads to the greatest direct benefit for humanity and the greatest amount of new scientific knowledge.

NASA’s Perseverance rover puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in Mars’ Jezero Crater. Numerous organic compounds have already been identified in the Martian soils present at this location by Perseverance, but “organics,” despite the implications of that word, usually have nothing to do with life at all; it simply indicates a molecule containing a carbon-hydrogen bond. As of 2025, there have been no crewed attempts at landing on Mars, and promises toward that end are incongruent with current technology.

In 2019, with Hurricane Dorian bearing down on the Florida coast, the official NOAA predictions (in white) were edited with a sharpie to incorrectly align with previous Donald Trump statements (that were factually inaccurate) about the potential path of the hurricane to include portions of Alabama, which was never at risk. It was an amazing “test” of whether loyalty to the truth or to a particular individual was more important, showcasing the difference between actual science and science that has been infiltrated and polluted by politics.

This chart shows the most up-to-date child and adolescent immunization schedule by age, current as of November 2024, as recommended by the CDC. New recommendations have come out, based on fraudulent studies and defying the scientific consensus, making the 2025 CDC’s recommendations the most unreliable for promoting public health and safety that they’ve ever been in history.

David Hilbert (far right, front row) was one of the most prestigious mathematicians of the 20th century, and led the faculty at Göttingen for many years. The 1933 exodus of Jewish mathematicians was driven by Hitler’s policies, and his statement that, “Our national policies will not be revoked or modified, even for scientists. If [it] means the annihilation of contemporary German science, then we shall do without science…” Hilbert then declared that there was no longer mathematics at Göttingen. Based on publication rates, advances, and breakthroughs made prior to 1933 versus afterward, he was proven quite correct.