How Trump’s “America First” Administration Could Shut U.S. Scientists Out of the Next Nobel-Worthy Discovery

The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that could keep American scientists out of the kind of massive international research collaborations that have produced Nobel Prize-winning discoveries. Per ProPublica, the Office of Management and Budget would give political appointees broad power to decide which research gets funded and to cancel grants for any reason, even if they lack scientific expertise. The Higgs boson discovery in twenty twelve offers a sobering example. That breakthrough required decades of work by thousands of scientists from dozens of countries, including a quarter of the workforce from the United States. Now, University of Chicago physicist David W. Miller, who worked on that project, warns that a similar effort would be nearly impossible under the new rule. 'The United States will not just fall behind,' he wrote in his objection. 'It will step aside.' Nearly five hundred thousand people have filed comments opposing the rule, which is set to take effect October first. The OMB insists the rule won't disrupt science or peer review, but thousands of scientists warn it would severely curtail their work and cause irreversible harm to American research.

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