In a speech today to members of the National Academy of Sciences, President Barack Obama announced new initiatives and investments in scientific research, innovation, and education, declaring once again to restore science to its rightful place. "The days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over," he said.
Calling science "more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, and our environment than it has ever been," Obama said he is going to make major investments — 3 percent of the gross domestic product — in research and innovation. This exceeds the amount invested in 1964 at the height of the space race. He emphasized the importance of using funds to encourage high-risk, high-return research and to support researchers at the beginning of their careers.
Following a welcome from NAS President Ralph J. Cicerone, Obama was introduced to the audience by his science adviser and NAS member John Holdren, who said that Obama "wanted to bring science back into the center of how the government thinks, what it says, and what it does; and he is doing it."
Read the complete story at the "AZo Journal of Materials Online".