Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

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Transcript of Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Page 1: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Sir John Cornforth -

Nobel Prize for Chemistry

“Scientists as Citizens” 1975

www.vega.org.uk

Page 2: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

A few hundred years ago - a mere breath of time - a concentrated source of energy was discovered in the fossil fuels…

Page 3: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

… essentially the energy of old sunlight, trapped by life and buried by the earth.

Page 4: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Humanity has exploited this resource with all the restraint of a fox in a chicken house.

Page 5: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

Page 6: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

Page 7: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

Page 8: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

The administrator seldom has a scientific background, or any remit to consider an extended future.

Page 9: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

The administrator seldom has a scientific background, or any remit to consider an extended future.

The businessman wants to make profits—the quicker the better for himself or his shareholders.

Page 10: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Among all these people there seems to be a general vague expectation, if they think of the matter at all, that the scientists are sure to find some way to rescue future generations from the…

Page 11: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

… shit into which the present one is dropping them.

Page 12: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

… shit into which the present one is dropping them.

NB - It took 1,000,000 years to create the fossil fuel we use each year

Page 13: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

So, if you are a scientist you realize before long that if the future is in anyone’s hands… it’s in

yours

1975

Page 14: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Kappa after a tennis match at Sussex

Andy Sierkowski

Page 15: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .
Page 16: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

Page 17: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

Page 18: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

\

Page 19: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

The administrator seldom has a scientific background, or any remit to consider an extended future.

Page 20: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

…among non-scientists there seems to be a general vague expectation,

if they think of the matter at all,

that the scientists are sure to find some way to rescue future generations from the…

Page 21: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not extend beyond the next election

The unborn have no vote,

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“

The administrator seldom has a scientific background, or any remit to consider an extended future.

The businessman wants to make profits—the quicker the better for himself or his shareholders.

Page 22: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

How many understand or appreciate the technical world we live in?

Page 23: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Politicians

Investment bankers

Administrators

Writers

Footballers

Celebrities

Ordinary Citizens

Page 24: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

So, if you are a scientist you realize before long that if the future is in

anyone’s hands it’s in yours

Page 25: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

I took a million year’s to create the fossil fuel we use each year

Page 26: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

SCIENCE

It may seem odd that a system of knowledge based on doubt could have been the driving force in constructing modern civilisation

Page 27: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Scientists do not believe; they check: I am not asking you to believe anything I say on a scientific matter; only that there is tested evidence for all of it, and I know the nature of that evidence and can make a judgement of its worth

Page 28: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The perspective of the politician does not usually extend beyond the next election. The unborn have no vote, whereas the easiest way to get the votes of the majority is to promise them increases in their power to consume.

Page 29: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The average citizen‘s reaction is: “What did posterity ever do for me?“ The administrator seldom has a scientific background, or any remit to consider an extended future. The businessman wants to make profits—the quicker the better for himself or his shareholders.

Page 30: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

University of Sussex

Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Page 31: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

“Scientists as Citizens”

by

Sir John Cornforth

“Kappa”

cf

www.vega.org.uk

Page 32: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Scientists do not believe; they check: I am not asking you to believe anything I say on a scientific matter; only that there is tested evidence for all of it, and I know the nature of that evidence and can make a judgement of its worth

Page 33: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .
Page 34: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

So, if you are a scientist you realize before long that if the future is in anyone’s hands it’s in yours

Page 35: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The Scientists’ true strength is something which I can put no better than Shaw in his all but forgotten play, “Back to Methusaleh”

“But my way’s did not work; and theirs’ did; and they were able to tell me why. That is their strength over me; they seek no other power”

from John Cornforth (cf www.vega.org.uk)

Page 36: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

…And sometimes they would add that the mess is of the scientists‘ creation, not theirs. So, if you are a scientist and you have this perspective, you realize before long that if the future is in anyone‘s hands it is in yours; and you can recognize some of your actions, although they might be innocent or even praiseworthy from a civic point of view, as hostile to the future of your species, or at least to a large number of its future members.

Page 37: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The chemists who create new compositions of matter have transformed…the modern world. (making) things like dyestuffs and medicines… (and) New metals, plastics, composites, textiles, adhesives, coatings, rubbers, insulators, conductors, semiconductors, super-conductors, optical fibres, detergents, ceramics .... the list is much longer than this, and chemists created the material for them all.

Page 38: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

I do not say that scientists are always free from guilt: I shall be talking of their weaknesses later on. But when scientists are condemned by people who are too lazy to learn anything about science but who have no intention of giving up the comfort, health and enhanced quality of life that science has brought them, I recall Caliban‘s curse from The Tempest.

Page 39: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Caliban‘s curse from The Tempest.

  Thou taught‘st me language, and my profit on‘t

Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you

For learning me your language!

Page 40: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

A physicist, a mathematician, a biologist or an earth scientist could tell similar stories. Scientists are embedded in the fabric of modern society and most of them spend their whole careers responding to the demands of the state or the market. They are so useful that the overwhelming majority who are non-scientists assume that that is what they are there for.

Page 41: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

To an increasing extent this majority is insisting that scientists ought to concentrate more on what society says It wants from them; and as for the teachers of science in schools and universities, their business is to train people who will continue to satisfy these wants. Scientists generally do an admirable job in responding to these requests.

Page 42: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

…And sometimes they would add that the mess is of the scientists‘ creation, not theirs. So, if you are a scientist and you have this perspective, you realize before long that if the future is in anyone‘s hands it is in yours; and you can recognize some of your actions, although they might be innocent or even praiseworthy from a civic point of view, as hostile to the future of your species, or at least to a large number of its future members.

Page 43: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

So, if you are a scientist and you have this perspective, you realize before long that if the future is in anyone’s hands it is in yours;

Page 44: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The chemists who create new compositions of matter have transformed, to an even greater extent, the modern world. They began to do this not much more than a century ago, starting with things like dyestuffs and medicines that are valuable but not needed in very large quantity. Sometimes, the things that they learned to produce were already known in nature;

Page 45: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

now, most products have no natural equivalent, they were created to satisfy the wants of an ever more complex society. New metals, plastics, composites, textiles, adhesives, coatings, rubbers, insulators, conductors, semiconductors, super-conductors, optical fibres, detergents, ceramics .... the list is much longer than this, and chemists created the material for them all.

Page 46: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

Scientists as Citizens

Sir John Cornforth, AG, CBE, FRS

Aust. J. Chem., 1993, 46, 265—275

RACI 75th Anniversary Lecture 1992

see also www.vega.org.uk

Page 47: Sir John Cornforth - Nobel Prize for Chemistry “Scientists as Citizens” 1975 .

The Art of the probable

Science is the art of the probable and I am using that word not just in its modern sense of “likely” but in its older and more exact meaning:”testable”


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