Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The responsability of a scientist

Good Essays
476 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The responsability of a scientist
ê

On one hand…
Society elevates scientists to the level of ‘super experts’, who are expected by the public to provide expertise and knowledge to solve societal problems.

On the other hand…
Many people remain cautious and even fearful of the technological and medical progress enabled by scientific research.

Wernher von Braun (1912–1977)

Wernher von Braun (1912–1977)

Fritz Haber (1868–1934)

Fritz Haber (1868–1934)

Edward Teller (1908 – 2003)

Edward Teller (1908 – 2003)

Andrei Sakharov (1921 – 1989)

Andrei Sakharov (1921 – 1989)

Contemporary biologists…
Ian Ramshaw and Ronald Jackson

Eckard Wimmer

Ron Fouchier and Yoshihiro Kawaoka

Artificial mousepox virus

Synthetic poliovirus

Avian influenza virus

Variola major the human smallpox virus

mutant that reduced the neurological effects of the virus Four mutations in the viral haemagglutinin gene were needed to create a highly pathogenic virus

Science
“(…) such research should be done and published. (…) today’s technologies would allow the rapid discovery of antiviral drugs and make a terrorist or military attack (…) less efficient.” “A research result obtained for a beneficial purpose could potentially create adverse

uses - ‘dual

use’.”

Comparing the contexts…
Contemporary and the historical examples
Jackson, Ramshaw, Wimmer,
Fouchier and Kawaoka

Von Braun, Haber, Teller and
Sakharov

Open and liberal countries

German Empire, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the USA of the 1950s.

Their work was dedicated to the benefit of humanity: battling a pest invasion or understanding a deadly virus.

Weapons of mass death and destruction for the military.
They too originally sought to serve the public good: civil energy production, agriculture, space flight or a greater understanding of theoretical physics.

Author’s opinion
Did the scientists involved acted more responsibly than von Braun, Haber and Teller?

Yes

“(…) they actively started discussions on biosecurity, dualuse research and possible abuse after the potential harm became obvious, and because they had no intention to weaponize their research.”

No

“(…) despite the potential for misuse of their work, they still published it; we should not underestimate the publication pressure and the conditions needed to advance academic careers.”

Solutions


“In my view, universities and research institutes should have a much more proactive role in raising awareness and supporting responsible behaviour through explicit declaration (…)”



“A good start, and a goal in itself, would be to require the total transparency of funding and open access to all research data.”

“Would Fritz Haber, Edvard Teller or Wernher von Braun have acted differently if dual-use research and the responsibility of researchers towards society had been drilled into them as part of their respective educations?” ?

?

?

?

?

Conclusions
“They were products of the societies in which they lived, in which they were educated, and in which they worked and sought recognition for their work.”

This problem remains today

“All of us should feel responsible for upholding moral values, for educating the next generation about those values and for making responsible decisions about the use of inventions.”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Demon in the Freezer

    • 12605 Words
    • 51 Pages

    Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox--and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers--at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.…

    • 12605 Words
    • 51 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    on finding a cure. Soldiers could come back healthy but what if they come down with the virus…

    • 468 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    P1 - Public Health Today

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Controlling communicable disease – Because communicable diseases can have so much impact on the population, the surveillance and control of such diseases is…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This new instrument will locate the virus, scan it and stop its progression thus stop the replication of the HIV strains allowing drugs to go in and kill the replicating virus. The disease will then be cured. This extraordinary tool will be beneficial to millions of people living with this incurable deathly disease and innumerable lives will be saved.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cobra Event Analysis

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Cobra Event addressed an area of science that I have given much thought to. Viruses are fascinating; the mystery of their complex existence continues to baffle scientists who search for deeper understanding. Viruses have been at the center of a constant debate in the science community, arguing whether they are, in fact, living or not. It is as equally interesting as it is scary how people have the ability to alter one of the most confusing and deadly components of the environment. The Cobra Event further fueled and educated my interest on this topic, as well as enlightened me on how much of a threat these bio weapons and viruses themselves can be.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Demon in the Freezer

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston is an intriguing book that discusses the anthrax terrorist attacks after 9/11 and how smallpox might become a future bioterrorist threat to the world. The book provides a brief history of the smallpox disease including details of an outbreak in Germany in 1970. The disease was eradicated in 1979 due to the World Health Organization’s aggressive vaccine program. After the virus was no longer a treat the World Health Organization discontinued recommending the smallpox vaccination. In conjunction, inventory of the vaccine was decreased to save money. The virus was locked up in two labs, one in the United States and one in Russia. However, some feel the smallpox virus exists elsewhere. Dr. Peter Jahrling and a team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland became concerned terrorists had access to the smallpox virus and planed to alter the strain to become more resistant. These doctors conducted smallpox experiments to discover more effective vaccines in case the virus were released. Preparedness for a major epidemic is discussed as well as the ease with which smallpox can be bioengineered.…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sometimes art imitates life, and then there are the times where life imitates the arts. In the movies the bad guys devise a plan and just before the unspeakable happens the hero comes along and saves the day. However in the real world this doesn’t always happen, there isn’t always a happy ending in a mere one-hundred and twenty minutes. Take for instance in 2001 there was a world-wide scare with the anthrax virus. Several people lost their lives. In the end a cure was found and the pandemonium calmed down. With terrorist planning the next terroristic act, who knows what’s next and when it will come to passage, bio-terrorist are always manufacturing biological weapons to use for mass destruction. Smallpox is a highly contagious and infectious disease that could be fatal if used as a bio-terroristic weapon. It has the potential to wreak havoc among unsuspecting nations.…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because of virus’s parasitic characteristics, or the fact that they depend on host cells to “come alive,” viruses may be viewed as having a certain potential for life, which can be destroyed, but they cannot reach a more independent state of being. Viruses are not by themselves alive; however, they verge on life.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    antibiotics. The new discovery could provide new tools in the fight against microbes such as…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Going in this lecture I was a little apprehensive because I am not a nurse or science major. I wanted to be able to get something out of it. I did not want it to be a long, boring, and uneventful lecture. But to my surprise it was not! To quickly sum up which lecture I went to, it was in Smith Hall by Dr. James Peterson talking about “Human Gene Editing Now: The National Academy of Science’s Pursuit of What We Should Do.” Dr. James Peterson first began to talk about nature and how God admired nature. He asked us if our we had a garden would be not improve and restore it. Dr. James Peterson then compared the garden to our bodies. He again said we need to sustain what we have. When talking about nature he also stated the importance of relationships,…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because of the evolvement of bacteria and viruses, doctors are searching for new ways to fight back. “The battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria demands new drugs and smarter, more responsible ways to use existing ones.”(Baker, 2005). Doctors and scientists are scrambling to find a way around the…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Global Infectious Diseases

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The risk of catching a disease that originates from across the world increases as the world’s technology and travel advances. The problem is, is that we can’t stop ourselves from getting a disease or stop traveling. Another factor is that it may not be something that can be cured and it may be contagious. The results of global deaths that come from infectious diseases are 25%. One solution is to develop a vaccine and/or other products to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, especially in the developing world.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay on Hiv

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In all the articles the topic of possible existence of the cure for HIV is discussed. They scientists from different world laboratories share their opinion on the right way of creation of this vaccine. It is extremely hard to find the appropriate therapy for patients, because the virus has a tendency to a very rapid mutation. So while the scientists are creating the drug for a patient according to his analyzes, the virus can change in a day and the treatment won’t be effective. Some scientists think that it’s necessary to create a cocktail of many steams of the HIV virus and then create one vaccine. But it will take a very long time and too much many. Moreover the reaction of the patient’s organism can be unpredictable.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    * Not informing a collaborator of your intent to file a patent in order to make sure that you are the sole inventor…

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay on Man & Science

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages

    First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form’d no weaker, blinder, and no less? Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? Or ask of yonder argent fields above, Why Jove’s Satellites are less than Jove? Of systems possible, if ’tis confest…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays