All 22 members of the National Science Council were terminated by the Trump administration in a terse email on Friday.
The administration did not provide an explanation for the purge of the board, which helps guide the National Science Foundation and serves as an independent advisory body on science and engineering issues to the President and Congress, providing annual reports. The layoffs are yet another blow to NSF and the general scientific enterprise in America.
On Friday, members received a two-sentence email “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump” saying their positions were “terminated, effective immediately.”
Keivan Stassun, Vanderbilt University professor of physics and astronomy and director of the Vanderbilt Initiative for Data-Intensive Astrophysics, was among those fired. After reaching out to other board members and seeing them fired as well, he moved to the Los Angeles Times “wholesale bowel removal America’s leadership in science and technology on a global scale.
NSB members are appointed by the president and serve overlapping six-year terms to ensure continuity. Other members who spoke to reporters at Nature News said the board would meet on May 5 and plan to release a report on how the U.S. is doing. He gave way to China for scientific efforts.
An attack on science
NSF and its board of directors were established in 1950 by President Truman. “We have learned that our ability to survive and develop as a nation depends to a great extent on our scientific progress.” Truman said after creating them. “Furthermore, it is not enough to be ahead of the rest of the world in scientific matters. We must maintain our leadership.”
