Civilian Quotes (3 quotes)
Of all the American scientists whose concern about the use of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki led them to devote themselves to the cause of peace, none was more dedicated nor more effective than [Edward] Condon. His efforts as Science Adviser to the Select Committee on Atomic Energy of the United States Senate after the war had much to do with the decision by the Congress to place government responsibility for atomic energy in a civilian rather than a military agency.
From 'Edward Uhler Condon, A Personal Recollection', presented at the Fourth International Conference on Atomic Physics, published in the Proceedings of this conference by G. zu Pulitz et al. (eds.), Atomic Physics (1975), Vol. 4, as collected in Asim O. Barut, Halis Odabasi and Alwyn van der Merwe (eds.), Selected Popular Writings of E.U. Condon (1991), 2. Branscomb added that there was a “price he paid for his relentless pursuit of this goal.”
The technical genius which could find answers … was not cooped up in military or civilian bureaucracy, but was to be found in universities and in the people at large.
Quoted by Theodore von Karman, The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Karman, Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Science (1967), 268. As cited in Office of Air Force History, Harnessing the Genie: Science and Technology Forecasting for the Air Force 1944-1986 (1988), 186.
Arnold was expressing the value of a balance between independent and government science.
Whereas in The Two Towers you have different races, nations, cultures coming together and examining their conscience and unifying against a very real and terrifying enemy. What the United States has been doing for the past year is bombing innocent civilians without having come anywhere close to catching Osama bin Laden or any presumed enemy.
…...
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
