Rush Holt, a plasma physicist by training, represents New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. Congress. From 1989 to 1998, Holt was assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a research institute focused on fusion as an alternate energy source. Holt was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998. Recently, staff writer Laura Sanders talked with him about the state of science and science funding in the United States.
In his inaugural address, President Obama said we would “restore science to its rightful place.” Where is science now?
Science, I think, is not in a good situation now, in several senses. The funding, although not small, is proportionally less than in some other countries that we would compare ourselves with…. It’s not terrible, but not so good.