In the final days before the US presidential election, 82 Nobel prize-winners have mobilised to support Kamala Harris and cautioned that her opponent, Donald Trump, is a threat to the US’s scientific enterprise.
The Nobel laureates – including 18 who have won the award for chemistry and 47 winners of the physics and medicine prizes – have signed an open letter that calls the 2024 election ‘the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States.’ University of Washington biochemist David Baker, who just weeks ago won a share of this year’s Nobel prize in chemistry, is among the signatories.
The letter, which was published in The New York Times, suggests that Harris, unlike Trump, appreciates the value of science in formulating public policy. It also states that Harris recognises that science and technology are essential drivers of living standards, and understands that maintaining US leadership in these fields ‘requires budgetary support from the federal government, independent universities, and international collaboration’. The laureates also say that Harris recognises ‘the key role that immigrants have always played in the advancement of science’.
‘Should Donald Trump win the presidential election, he would undermine future US leadership on these and other fronts, as well as jeopardise any advancements in our standards of living, slow the progress of science and technology, and impede our responses to climate change,’ the laureates warn.
Nobel prize-winning scientists mobilise for Kamala Harris | News
