Physicist Burton Richter was in his office at SLAC, both growling and laughing as he was read a comment from powerful Michigan Republican Congressman Nick Smith that described the Nobel laureate as a “passionate liberal ideologue.” Representative Smith, chairman of the House Research Subcommittee, released a statement attacking Richter as part of the Republican response to a 21 June letter from 48 Nobel Prize winners highly critical of the Bush administration’s science policies. The Nobel letter went on to endorse Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for president.
But Richter was in good company. Smith, trying to blunt the impact of the letter, went on to say that although the “Nobel Prize winning endorsers” claim to be “speaking on behalf of the welfare of science and discovery itself,” it is “clear that these scientists are, collectively, also passionate liberal ideologues with an extensive record of support for the Democratic Party.”
“It’s unfortunate,”...
