Margaret Mead Quotes
It is not until science has become a discipline to which the research ability of any mind from any class in society can be attracted that it can become rigorously scientific.
It was not uncommon for national leaders to make statements like this advocating equal participation, when they knew perfectly well that Blacks were lynched in the South and not even allowed to vote much less lead. Most Americans took heart in these American principles and Southern and some other whites interpreted it as referring only to white people.
This is a very material quotation with regard to Congress creating science-related policies and legislation. The members of Congress know the least about scientific matters than almost anything else that they have to legislate about. So typically they rely on scientific experts. Scientists are witnesses at Congressional hearings and often the political, polarized staff arrange to have scientists who disagree in something. They both have PhDs in the field, but one may be a great scientists and the other, a lightweight. This is where Alverez’s point becomes so critical. The Congress and staff have to learn how to differentiate between a “second rater” or a “Fermi” one of the great physicists of all time.
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard College in New York City and her MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University. Mead served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1975.
