Embracing Advocacy in Science

Funding

At the turn of the 20th century, scientific research was largely funded by private donors. Scientists attracted funding by disseminating their work and clearly communicating its significance to donors. World War I, World War II, and the Cold War drove the United States into an arms race, underpinned by a science race, which drove the federal government to dramatically increase funding for basic and applied research starting in the early 1950s. Congress created the National Science Foundation in 1950 to advance scientific research, following the first Russian atomic bomb detonation in 1949. Federal funding for research and development increased by more than 400% from 1951 to 1961 (compared to a 12% increase from 2007 to 2017; AAAS 2017). With federal tax dollars flowing to universities, many academic scientists focused on working within their institutions, without an emphasis on public communication. It became an accepted element of the profession to segregate science from advocacy in order to remain objective (Otto 2016). With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the science and arms races slowed and federal funding for basic research was subsequently cut or reprioritized for medical advancements in the mid-1990s (AAAS 2017). A host of social and economic issues, including health care, immigration, marriage equality, and loss of manufacturing jobs occupied the nation’s attention (PRC 2011), shifting focus away from environmental and other scientific issues (Dykstra 2008).