Xinhua Agency, Los Angeles, October 7 (Reporter Tan Jingjing) Scientists such as John Clark, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Mary Brunko, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, criticized the U.S. government's policy of sharply reducing scientific research budgets in an interview with the media on the 7th, believing that this will seriously weaken U.S. scientific research capabilities and may have "catastrophic" consequences.
Clark pointed out that many measures taken by the Trump administration to reshape American science and health policies, including the large-scale dismissal of government scientists and the drastic reduction of research funding, are "extremely serious problems" that will paralyze the corresponding scientific research in the United States. "If this continues, the consequences will be catastrophic." He said the policies are "completely beyond the understanding of any scientist." He also said it is critical to continue and fund research that seems like "basic science" but could ultimately lead to "critical applications."
He also stressed that federal funding is important for promoting and supporting scientific research that can drive medical and basic science advances.
Clark is an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He and two other quantum physicists won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics on the 7th for their contributions to the realization of macro quantum mechanical tunneling effects and energy quantization in circuits. Brunko is the senior program leader at the American Institute of Systems Biology. She and two other scientists won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on the 6th for their groundbreaking discoveries on the mechanism of peripheral immune tolerance.
Since the beginning of this year, the Trump administration has promoted policies such as cutting scientific research budgets, reducing scientific research projects, and laying off employees, triggering widespread protests in the American scientific and medical communities. Scientists and employees of a number of federal agencies and scientific research institutions have successively issued open letters or jointly protested, expressing strong concerns about the reduction of scientific research funding and policy direction.