Luis Walter Alvarez Quotes
There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.
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.
Luis Alvarez, 1911-1988, Physicist, Quoted in Daniel S. Greenberg, The Politics of American Science, 1968
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Latin means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” See Alcuin if York {593018} for a quick history of the statement. Essentially, in science public opinion is irrelevant or at least should be. One of the major political issues in our society is whether ideology and/or public opinion should control policy and practice of scientific issues, methods, and practices.
Luis Walter Alvarez was an American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for development of the hydrogen bubble chamber enabling discovery of resonance states in particle physics. The American Journal of Physics commented, "Luis Alvarez was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century."
