Abstract

No one can be a scientist, even in private, if he does not have independence of observation and of thought. But if in addition science is to become effective as a public practice, it must go further; it must protect independence.I was advised upon graduating from college in 1962 to apply to medical school rather than to graduate school, on the grounds that I could teach, perform research, and treat patients if I had a medical degree, while I would be confined to teaching and research with a basic science doctorate degree. The implication was that research is research, the exploration of the unknown; basic and medical research were of the same ilk. Thus, I decided to obtain a basic science degree principally ..