Lord Robert May planted the seeds of chaos theory, and his work modeling ecosystems and infectious diseases mathematically has translated into global conservation efforts and insights into AIDS. As the United Kingdom’s former chief scientific adviser and the country’s highest authority on science during the mad cow years, he instituted a set of protocols by which scientific advice is decided and presented to the public. In 2000 he was appointed president of the Royal Society, one of the most esteemed positions in the world of science, where he continues to work closely with governments to develop policies on scientific issues at the national and international level.
What should governments do to help science?
M: The way science is taught to the next generation needs improvement. We need to increase the levels of spending on basic science, creating new knowledge, and make certain that the money is maximized, both in the direct costs of funding research and the indirect costs of the infrastructure, such as buildings and equipment. In the United Kingdom, we’d like to capture more of the spirit of entrepreneurship that ultimately carries ideas to the market in the way that it does so well in the United States.
