As in past elections, it’s an understatement to say that science and technology (S&T) haven’t been much of an issue in this presidential campaign. Apart from climate change and its close kin energy policy, S&T issues have barely been mentioned on the campaign trail by either Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or Republican nominee Donald Trump. If Trump has positions on science policy matters, he has kept them to himself. Clinton, on the other hand, has published a considerable amount in position papers available on her campaign website.
Neither campaign responded to multiple requests from Physics Today for input to this article or to make their S&T advisers available for interviews. Clinton did provide answers to a list of 20 S&T questions posed by ScienceDebate.org, a coalition of 56 scientific societies, universities, and other nonprofits; Trump provided more general, terse responses to the questions.
“I watch the nightly news,...
