We’re Not Big on Science

Senior engineer Wally Rippel (pictured), who contributed the chapter on cold fusion for my first book (Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies), likes to perform an exercise when he speaks in public: He asks the audience to name a famous athlete (all hands go up), then a famous actor (all hands go up), and then a famous musical artist (all hands go up).  Finally he asks the audience to name a living scientist.  When few if any hands go up, he comments that what we’ve just observed is the value that our society places on science.

This sad finding is echoed in the graphic below.