Camilla Jessen
Newly crowned Nobel laureate John Clarke condemned President Donald Trump’s deep cuts to U.S. research funding.
During the 2025 Nobel Prize week, one of this year’s physics laureates strongly criticized President Donald Trump.
Nobel laureate slams Trump’s science policies
John Clarke, one of the 2025 Nobel Prize winners in physics, has sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to science funding
Clarke has called it “an extremely serious problem.”
“This will paralyze scientific research”
Speaking to AFP during Nobel Prize week, Clarke said Trump’s administration has drastically reduced research budgets and dismissed scientists from federal agencies since returning to the White House in January.
“This will paralyze a large part of scientific research in the United States,” said Clarke, 83, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Deep cuts to research budgets
Clarke said he personally knows colleagues who have lost major grants due to the administration’s budget cuts.
“These are projects that took years to build, now being defunded overnight,” he said.
“This kind of instability is devastating to scientists who depend on long-term research support.”
Decades of work now at risk
Clarke, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum mechanics, said his own success was made possible by strong public funding four decades ago.
“It will be disastrous if this continues,” he warned.
“If the government completes its full term, it could take a decade to return to where we were just six months ago.”
“Incomprehensible to any scientist”
Calling the administration’s moves “totally incomprehensible to any scientist,” Clarke said the cuts demonstrate a lack of understanding of how science works.
“You can’t just restart research after destroying the foundations,” he added. “Science depends on steady support and trust.”
Fellow Nobel winner echoes concern
Mary E. Brunkow, the American recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine, agreed that public investment is essential.
“Scientific progress depends on stable, long-term funding,” she told AFP. “Without it, innovation slows—and the world loses.”
Fears of global consequences
Several Nobel officials and scientists warned that undermining American science could have worldwide repercussions.
By weakening research institutions, they said, the U.S. risks losing its global leadership role, allowing other countries to take the lead in innovation, technology, and medicine.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, which may have used AI in the preparation
