| Sumario: | Part of a special issue on politics, science, and public policy. The text of the writer's contribution to a panel discussion at the Politics and Science" conference is presented. The National Defense Education Act, which was created in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, resulted in the modern American aversion to science. By exerting so much effort to persuade the brightest and best to become scientists and engineers, the government unwittingly discouraged the remaining 80 percent of the population from thinking about science. The outcome today is that America is at risk of losing what makes it great: ingenuity, or American know-how. The solution lies in developing a scientifically literate society and public policy grounded in sound science.
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