Letters to the Editor
SCIENTISTS IN POLITICS
Sta,—Dr. J. B. S. Haldane upbraids me for asserting that the political views of scientists " tend to be uninformed and naïve, when not actually Communist." I did not assert this: I stated it as a generalisation which 1 find widely held and consider it important to refute. His indignation, though nb doubt righteous, is therefore misdirected.
Like him, I think scientists can be proud of the part which so many of them played in the opposition to Hitler, from the time of the first persecutions onwards: this does great credit to their liberal and humanitarian prin- ciples. Dr. Haldane's own courage in using himself as a subject for dangerous experiments in the late war is also worth recording. We Must hope that this tradition will be carried on, and that scientists in the future will not lack the courage to condemn tyranny and intolerance wherever it appears.—Yours faithfully, STEPHEN TOOLMIN Oxford
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