Press Release

AIP FYI 9 Jan 2001: Looking Back: Notable Quotations from 2000

By SpaceRef Editor
January 9, 2001
Filed under ,

A next-to-last look at 2000, with the following quotations from
FYI in 2000:

“University-based research provides the kind of fundamental
insights that are the most important building blocks of any new
technology or treatment. It also helps produce the next
generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. We’re
going to give university-based research a major lift.” –
President Clinton, before the release of his FY 2001 budget
request

“When Alan Greenspan continually says that at least 70 percent
of our economic boom is due to technological advances, I think
everyone across the country gets it.” – National Science
Foundation Director Rita Colwell

“Science and technology has been an area that garnered strong
bipartisan support and it should, because it’s so clear from
every study, every kind of data, economic analysis, that the
federal investment in science and technology is about as good an
investment as you can possibly make with the American
taxpayer’s money.” – Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology

“I don’t want this to ever happen again.” – Department of Energy
Secretary Bill Richardson on NIF problems

“I believe this [budget] resolution puts us exactly in the same
position we were in last year, putting our necks in the noose
and handing the president the rope.” – Rep. John Porter (R-IL)

“I just wish our wallet could match our warmth” – Senator
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) at NSF budget hearing

“In a world being transformed by technology, good science is
vital to good diplomacy.” – Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright

“This is a day of joy; I mean that most sincerely.” – Senator
John Warner (R-VA) at the nomination hearing for General John
Gordon to head the National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA)

“I am certain that the very bright and dedicated people at NNSA
can do both – pursue modern science in the most dynamic and
creative ways, while protecting secrets and national security.”
– General John Gordon

“If current trends persist, our nation may begin to fall far
short of the talent needed to spur the innovation process that
has given America such a strong economy and high quality of
life.” – Neal Lane on S&T workforce projections

“As I learned during my recent tenure as Director of the
National Institutes of Health, it is crucial that leaders of
science agencies be able to anticipate several years of steady
growth during periods of expansion.” – Harold Varmus

“We face a situation where we are talking about putting together
a [National Missile Defense] system that the best scientists in
the world tell us could literally be rendered absolutely
inoperative, if it is simply deployed; all you have to do is put
the system out there, and you have the ability to create decoys
with fairly unsophisticated technology.” – Senator John Kerry
(D-MA)

“Despite a number of problems, I believe NASA’s space science
program remains its greatest success.” – Rep. Dana Rohrbacher
(R-CA)

“Expanding the number of individuals prepared to use a greater
proportion of their intellectual capacity means, among other
things, that our elementary and secondary students must broaden
their skills in mathematics and related sciences.” – Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan

“…our effort here is not to create a new bureaucracy but it is
to put somebody in charge of this new exciting field that is
driven by technology to make sure that every patient in America
has early detection as a tool against disease….” – Rep.
Richard Burr (R-NC) describing his bill to authorize a National
Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

“It is worth emphasizing that U.S. science is strong, in a large
part, because U.S. scientists and engineers have come from
everywhere, and they continue to communicate – openly – with the
world’s best minds, whatever country they hail from.” – Neal
Lane

“The Congress knows that it is performance that counts, and this
[FY 2001] budget is a tribute to NASA’s performance.” – NASA
Administrator Dan Goldin

“Morale at the labs is already bad, and these provisions won’t
improve the situation.” – Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) on new
polygraphing requirements

“The momentum at a national level in the physical sciences is
one of decline. We should be disturbed by this trend – the
physical sciences are the foundation of the microchip industry,
the telecommunications industry, the transportation industry and
the petrochemical industry. We are talking about what fuels our
engine of U.S. economic growth – high technology and maintaining
a commanding lead in a 21st century global economy.” – Senator
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) in discussing funding trends for the DOE’s
Office of Science

“It’s apparent that we need to make a major investment in
upgrading teacher skills in math, science and other subjects.” –
Secretary of Education Richard Riley

“A new administration needs to move quickly to identify and
nominate highly qualified scientists and engineers to fill key
positions – beginning with the assistant to the president for
science and technology.” – John McTague, director of OSTP in
the Reagan Administration at a September public briefing at the
National Academies

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Richard M .Jones

Public Information Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org

(301) 209-3095

http://www.aip.org/gov

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SpaceRef staff editor.