It seems to me that a staggering piece of news emerged from last night’s debate in the US among contenders for the Republication presidential nomination in 2012.
Challenged on his scepticism about climate change, the frontrunner, Texas Governor Rick Perry, mounted a vigorous defence of his position in a minority by pointing out that ‘Galileo got outvoted for a spell.’
That’s electrifying news, isn’t it? I mean, who would have thought that Rick Perry was a man to compare with Galileo on scientific matters? It just leaves me wondering, ‘why is he running for president?’ After all there were seventeen US presidents in the last century. When it comes to scientists of Galileo’s stature, how many were there? Einstein? Schrödinger? Strain a bit and we can probably get to five, but I bet not everyone would have the same names on the list.
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| One scientific giant |
No, to be right up there with Galileo, you have to be pretty special. And if Rick Perry belongs in that rarefied company, why he needs to give up on all this politics nonsense and get stuck into the science. I’d recommend he take a look at some kind of unified theory, spanning Einstein’s relativity and Schrödinger’s quantum mechanics. Unification has been a bit of a Holy Grail for some time now, and it will certainly take an intellect and a vision on a par with Galileo’s to secure it.
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| ... inspired another. Virtually indistinguishable aren't they? |
Wouldn’t Perry just put Steven Hawking back in his box if he pulled that one off!
So forget the presidency, Rick, and concentrate on the book that takes us beyond Einstein. That would be a monument truly worthy of you.
And I tell you what: make it happen and I’ll believe you on global warming. That and practically any other subject you care to mention.
In the meantime, just by getting out of politics, you’ll have made a major contribution to humanity.
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