Open Access. The crisis in American science. Sage Journals. History of Science. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6827-2892, Volume 63, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/00732753251343655

Abstract – “The second regime of Donald J. Trump has decimated federal science and federally supported science to a greater degree than his first regime, unleashing an unprecedented crisis. The authors in this roundtable take a close look at the tortured landscape of science in America and, using historical scholarship and the tools of history, analyze and assess its plight. Topics include nuclear facilities, the role of Silicon Valley oligarchs, Executive Order 14168 on biological sex, climate change and the environmental sciences, science and ideology, responses to regime change, and resistance to the regime, especially by universities.

Introduction, Kathryn M. Olesko, Georgetown University, USA. Times of crisis galvanize historians, who see the present through the lenses of the past. Now is one of those times when, tragically, the scientific community in the United States is again under attack from the federal government, the most important patron of science in America. This special roundtable commentary on the crisis in American science was assembled at the request of the Editor of History of Science, Lissa Roberts. With its long tradition of historical scholarship coupled with historiographical reflection, History of Science is a particularly appropriate venue for analyzing this crisis. The challenges facing historians who address this crisis are considerable. Donald J. Trump’s treatment of science in many respects repeats his actions during his first regime, 2017–21, but not entirely. What appear to be other historical precedents in American history prove to be in one sense or another incomparable. International comparisons with totalitarian regimes seem more relevant than past eras of American history. And the complexion of circumstances that encase this current crisis are without historical parallel. In their analyses of the current state of science in America, the authors in this roundtable leverage history of science and, more broadly, science studies to examine more deeply what has happened and to assess the likely unfortunate consequences of the cascading changes to the scientific landscape. They zoom in on the dangers caused by senseless budget cuts to U.S. nuclear energy and waste programs, the administration’s misuse of science to eviscerate recognition of and equality for nonbinary peoples, and its destructive targeting of any research related to climate change and the environment. They remind us of the facets of Silicon Valley’s history that have been obscured by attention to the reactionary culture championed by Peter Thiel and his ilk; draw our attention to the relative stability of science under past authoritarian regimes compared to the chaos that reigns in America now; ask us to focus on the power politics at work in the struggle between science and the federal government; and resurrect the long history of collective resistance to the federal government to deter us from thinking of obedience as a first response. Together they call on professional historians to take up our moral obligation and raise our voices now before it is too late. The hope is that this effort stimulates other conversations on the current crisis and on the all-important relationship between the past, present, and future of science in America – and elsewhere…”