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Running head: PHYSICS AND POLITICS

Physics and Politics
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PHYSICS AND POLITICS

Introduction
All sectors usually seem to embrace politics in one way or another and science is no
exception. It forms part of the political process since it also experiences issues of allocation of
scarce resources. Such include budget constraints that tend to influence the efficacy of scientific
operations. Thus, scientists that cooperate with government policies and regulations, as well as the
government itself, often succeed in their activities.
Scientists who defy governments and their policy regulations, on the other hand, often
experience challenges such as apprehension, persecution, and denial of security clearance among
others. Regardless of these bare facts that show the relationship between science and politics,
many scientists still deny their involvement with politics to date. They stick to the notion that
science is a rational and unbiased field which makes it free from politics. However, there is an
evident interplay between politics and science where the survival of one is difficult without the
involvement of the other.
Background Information on Science and Politics
Numerous organized groups for scientific societies exist today to perform various roles in
the political arena. For instance, Ad-Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding lobbies for more
funds for the National Institute of Health (NIH) while the Coalition for National Science Funding
does the same for the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Jasanoff, 2004). Many other scientific
institutions act as the bridge between the government and scientists as well as scientific operations.
Their main role is to ensure that science-based firms get sufficient funding especially
during budget allocations by the government. Similarly, governments also need the input of
scientists for the achievement of several elements of their agenda. For example, scientists and their

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advocates have joined the game of congressional earmarks in many areas of national activity such
as Homeland Security, education, justice, and agriculture among others (Gauchat, 2012). This has
made them become essential members of politics since they are deeply involved in policy-making
processes and are members of inter-group politics.
Hence, many heads in the science field recognize the role of scientists in the political world.
Examples are the NIH, NSF, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Mostly, they encourage the cohesion of scientists mainly to defend the federal funding game
through speaking with one voice (Gauchat, 2012). The scarcity of resources has often led to
competition between different fields for funding thus the need for togetherness during such
scenarios.
This forces them to get more involved in politics as recent years have seen the neglect of
physical sciences while life sciences receive a boost. Similarly, scientists have come to the
realization that a political aspect that affects even one scientific field is likely to trickle down or
cause a ripple effect on the rest of the science industry. For instance, Congress canceled the
Superconducting Super Collider project in 1993 due to the divide witnessed in the science
community at the time. After that, people in the science field learned their lesson and resorted to
embrace unity as they realized its importance in keeping political ties.
The above examples present the kind of relationship that has often existed between politics
and science. Even if scientists deny this fact and are not directly involved in political campaigns
and contributions, they are quite aware that they influence politics and politics influences them. It
has always been a mutual relationship where they rely on each other for support as well as many
of their operations.

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This is despite the issues of science not being ranked high on the national agenda and the
scientists not being at the forefront of political campaigns. It forms part of the explanation as to
why their relationship in the past has been a difficult one to prove. Many of their interactions are
usually behind the scenes where they manipulate one another into getting what they want. These
elements apply to all forms of politics as well as all categories of science.
Consequently, science also has its own forms of politics within the industry. They practice
elements such as democracy in voting to come up with its leaders and to make decisions that are
essential for the smooth running of the industry. Thus, politics has had an immense influence on
science in general and also on the specific categories of science.
Politics in the Science of Physics
Whereas all sciences are essential to society in unique ways, physics is the science that
equips personnel to take heed of scientific discoveries and advances. Consequently, it is one of the
crucial elements that is used in the education of practitioners of biomedical and physical sciences,
computer scientists, engineers, chemists and many other categories in the science field.
Breakthroughs in any other science often have an impact on society. This is what leads to
the intersection between science and society, where the latter heavily relies on politics to run. In
other words, the discoveries and advances that the science of physics brings about happen with
expectations of reaping benefits from society (Gläser & Laudel, 2016). This is one of the reasons
that makes it difficult for it to avoid the influence of politics because everything in society revolves
around politics.

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Impact of Physics on Society
The political aspect of physics is not its only impact on society. Being the study of the
natural world, physics has changed the philosophy and way of life by bringing an understanding
of the universe. It does this by enabling the study of the macroscopic level of space and
microscopic level of particles that form the world people live in (Gläser & Laudel, 2016). Before
the inception of physics science, many people had the belief that the answers to many unknown
phenomena lay within supernatural sources.
However, the science of physics came in to provide testable and verifiable answers that
worked well in disapproving such assumptions. The use of physics to explain the cosmos helped
people who had grasped the new understanding create inventions and scientific theories for the
benefit of everyone; hence changing the philosophy of humankind (Russell, 2016). The magnitude
of the change brought about by physics was massive, and it challenged the infallibility of the
people who were perceived as the rulers of society.
As a result, it gave people the freedom and capability to work together and think for
themselves, an aspect that helped them create a good future for themselves. In other words, the
introduction of physics not only enabled the understanding and the use of knowledge to make the
world a better place for human beings, but it also significantly challenged the belief systems of the
people (Russell, 2016). Thus, the face of society has greatly changed since physics was invented.
People have found answers and explanations to many things that they considered mysterious. Also,
physics has led to many other discoveries and advancements that have made it easy for people in
society to navigate through life.

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Another way in which physics has impacted society is through the understanding and
prediction of natural phenomena. According to Russell (2016), physics has aided the
understanding of basic things such as weather and its predictions, the blueness of the sky, why the
grass is green, the preparation and handling of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes and floods, the decomposition of organic material and so forth.
Simply, without physics, human beings would not even be aware of the law of gravity and
how it works being that it determines a lot of aspects. Therefore, physics has provided a vast
knowledge of the world’s natural processes. Furthermore, it has also explained techniques of how
people can implement this information for the benefit of society (Sinatra et al, 2015). Natural
events may still surprise human beings, but usually,...