On the grapevine
Is everyone a scientist?
The notion that “everyone who contributes to the scientific enterprise is a scientist” is utter nonsense, claims the microbiologist Henry Miller.
Henry Miller | Photo: zVg
In a commentary written for the Washington Examiner, the microbiologist Henry Miller recently used this anonymous quotation to criticise Holden Thorp, the editor-in-chief of Science magazine. Thorp had published an article that expanded the definition of a ‘scientist’ to include “everyone who contributes to the scientific enterprise”. But in Miller’s opinion, this is nothing more than “yet another ‘Let’s all hold hands around the campfire and sing kumbaya’ exercise”. Miller also quoted critical reactions from other scientists, insisting that “science … is a commitment to a systematic way of thinking … It is counterintuitive. It has to be learned”.
