Sunday, December 27, 2020

Sunday Reflection: The Illuminating Torch





"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." -- the renowned French scientist Louis Pasteur, born on this day in 1822. 

Pasteur created the first vaccines for anthrax and rabies, and pioneered the process for stopping bacterial contamination in milk, wine and other products, known as pasteurization. His research and discoveries resulted in the saving of millions of lives that previously would have been lost to infection and disease. We imagine he would have been appalled at the Trump regime's anti-science agenda and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

(image: Bettman Archive / Getty Images)

2 comments:

Infidel753 said...

that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence

An important reminder, and an aspect of the problem that the anti-science element in the US never seems to consider. We're not operating in isolation. If the US sinks into religious superstition and reality-denial and falters in pressing forward with science, then others -- in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and elsewhere -- will go forward without us. As Jacob Bronowski once said, "we have not been given any guarantee that Rome and Babylon were not given". Science is the root of national power -- any nation which abandons it will eventually become in irrelevant backwater.

Hackwhackers said...


infidel -- The birthday and quote are especially timely, aren't they? The Trumpers can't pray or bully their way out of pandemics after they've rejected the science and medicine meant to save us.