there's a fascinating article in the TimeS this morning about Chinese physicist Xu Liangying, a man who has led an interesting life, to say the least:
The first time he was purged, Xu Liangying was 27, an up-and-coming physicist, philosopher and historian and a veteran of the Communist underground. He had to divorce his wife, leave his sons and go live on his mother's farm in the country.
Three decades later, only a heart attack saved him from imprisonment or worse during the massacre that ended the democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards stole the Einstein translations that Dr. Xu had labored over during his farm exile. Armed guards once surrounded his apartment to keep him away from Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
For seven decades, Xu Liangying has been Albert Einstein's man in China, intertwining revolution and physics to speak up for political freedom and the value of scientific curiosity in a land where the rulers have often had a different agenda. His Einstein translations, retrieved and published, helped inspire a rebirth of interest in Einstein and in science in China.
It's an amazing story, and a sobering reminder that however much we may complain about the politicization of science in the US, we've got it pretty damn easy.
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...however much we may complain about the politicization of science in the US, we've got it pretty damn easy.
An armed citizenry is governed. A disarmed citizenry is ruled. If Washington fears honest ciitzens buying arms and ammunition with the Officially unredistributed remains of their own earned income, it should.
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Put that in perspective with warrantless search and seizure at an airport. Go down the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights to see what remains unsullied.
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" can be tested in 90 days with alpha-quartz in an Eotvos balance to 10^(-13) difference/average or in two days with benzil in paired calorimeters to 3x10^(-18) sensitivity. General relativity denies warrantless search and seizure at an airport. If Washington is anisiotropic all of physics must be subtlely rewritten at its most fundamental levels!
It's an amazing story, and a sobering reminder that however much we may complain about the politicization of science in the US, we've got it pretty damn easy.
Indeed... but it's also a story that should be viewed as a cautionary tale about increasing politicization of science.
-Rob