John Clarke, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and this year's Nobel Prize in physics laureate, called the Trump administration's cuts to research funding a "catastrophe," saying they would "paralyze most U.S. scientific research."
According to AFP and other foreign media on the 7th (local time), Clarke said this at a news conference, citing mass layoffs of scientists at U.S. government agencies and cuts to research funds.
Clarke added, "Even if this administration leaves, it will take 10 years to return to previous levels," and "no scientist can understand this."
Earlier, in Jan., the Trump administration cut federal budgets for research institutes and universities, resulting in large-scale layoffs at research agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The NIH is an agency that provides about $50 billion (about 70 trillion won) in research funding each year to universities, hospitals, and research organizations in the United States.
Research grants for the National Science Foundation (NSF) were also cut.
Clarke, who is from the United Kingdom, jointly won this year's Nobel Prize in physics with Michel Devoret, a Yale University professor, and John Martinis, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), with whom he studied quantum mechanical effects appearing at macroscopic scales in a Berkeley lab in the 1980s.
That day, Clarke also said he had received significant resources such as lab space, graduate teaching assistants, and research equipment.
He emphasized, "At the time, we had no idea how important our research was," adding, "We must continue basic science because no one knows what the outcome will be." He explained that because basic science can, over the long term, lead to core applied technologies, it is very important for the government to provide funding.
Meanwhile, Clarke said he learned of his Nobel win from a phone call at 2 a.m., saying, "At first, I thought it was a prank call," and "after I realized it was real, I just sat there in a complete daze."