The Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 () is a bill that would create the position of Science Laureate of the United States, meant to be similar to the

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

. The Science Laureate would spend their term traveling around the country promoting science and research to students and the general public. The bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the

113th United States Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Presidency of Barack Obama, Barack Obama's presiden ...

Provisions of the bill

''This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source.'' The Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 would establish the position of Science Laureate of the United States. The bill would require the President of the United States to appoint a Science Laureate on the basis of: (1) merit, particularly the ability of such individual to foster and enhance public awareness and interest in science and to provide ongoing significant scientific contributions; and (2) recommendations received by the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(NAS) based on those factors. The bill would also encourage each Science Laureate to continue his or her scientific work and directs the NAS to facilitate such Science Laureate's duties. Finally, the bill would require each Science Laureate to serve a term of one or two years.

Procedural history

House

The Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 was introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D, CA-19) on May 8, 2013. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and the

United States House Science Subcommittee on Research and Technology The Science Subcommittee on Research and Technology is one of five subcommittees of the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Jurisdiction The subcommittee has legislative jurisdiction and general and special oversight ...

. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor placed H.R. 1891 on the House calendar for the week of September 9, 2013.

Debate and discussion

Supporters of the bill argued that it would bring important attention to the importance of science and the benefits of scientific research, hopefully inspiring more Americans to pursue scientific careers. One commentator, on learning of the proposed position of "Science Laureate of the United States," immediately nominated Neil deGrasse Tyson for the position, listing several humorous and serious qualifications. Neil deGrasse Tyson was also mentioned on a ''Wired'' magazine list of potential nominees alongside Brian Greene,

Jill Tarter Jill Cornell Tarter (born January 16, 1944) is an American astronomer best known for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Tarter is the former director of the Center for SETI Research, holding the Bernard M. Oliver Cha ...

, Mike Brown, and

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle ( née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scien ...

. Several concerns about the effectiveness of the bill were raised. First, objections were made to the fact that the position lacked a salary, with one commentator pointing out that this would make things very difficult on the scientist who was simultaneously supposed to continue performing their own research (and finding grants for it) and fulfill the role of Science Laureate. A second objection was raised to the decision to make the National Academy of Sciences as the group selecting the official list of candidates since, while they would be well placed to choose an excellent scientist, they might not do a good job of choosing an excellent communicator. A third objection was the possibility for the position to become heavily politicized. Another source speculated on what considerations should be used to choose a Science Laureate. These included avoiding unrelated controversy, diversity (to better represent a diverse American public), active research, diversity (in research fields, from one laureate to the next), and finding someone willing to do it, despite the position being unpaid.

Notes/References

External links