science and politics

When Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced on May 1st, 2009 that he would retire, the Court lost one its most agile thinkers on the intersection of science, technology and law.

In his inaugural address, President Obama said: “We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.”

Former Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory physicist Bill Foster has been elected to Congress in Illinois. This brings the total number of physicists in Congress to three. While this doesnt necessarily ensure a bright future for science in this country, it will surely help the cause to have more knowledgeable and passionate voices in Washington.