[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[March 14, 2000]
[Pages 459-461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on Presenting the National Medals of Science and Technology
March 14, 2000
The President. Thank you, and welcome to the White House. Thank you,
Secretary Daley, and thank you, Dr.
Lane, for your leadership. Secretary
Shalala; Dr. Colwell; Representative Nick Smith,
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
thank you for your support of science and technology in the United
States Congress, across party lines. We welcome Sir Christopher
Meyer, the British Ambassador to the
United States, here to be with us today.
Every year I look forward to this day. I always learn something from
the work of the honorees. Some of you I know personally; others, I've
read your books. Some of you, I'm still trying to grasp the implications
of what it is I'm supposed to understand and don't quite yet. [Laughter]
But this has been--I must say, one of the great personal joys of being
President for me has been the opportunity that I've had to be involved
with people who are pushing the frontiers of science and technology and
to study subjects that I haven't really thought seriously about since I
was in my late teens. And I thank you for that.
When Congress minted America's first coin in 1792, one of the mottos
was ``Liberty, Parent of Science and Industry.'' Very few of those coins
survived, but the Smithsonian has lent us one today. I actually have
one. It's worth $300,000. [Laughter] Not enough to turn the head of a
25-year-old dot-com executive--[laughter]--but to a President, it's real
money. [Laughter] And I thought you might like to see it because it
embodies a commitment that was deep in the consciousness of Thomas
Jefferson and many of our other Founders. And we could put the same
inscription on your medals today.
You have used your freedom to ask and answer some of the greatest
questions of our time. Each of you has been a brilliant innovator and
more, breaking down barriers between disciplines, broadening the
frontiers of knowledge, bringing the products of pure research into
everyday lives of millions of people, helping to educate the next
generation of inventors and innovators. For this, America and, indeed,
the entire world is in your debt.
It is terribly important that we continue to open the world of
science to every American. The entire store of human knowledge is now
doubling every 5 years. In just the 8 years since I first presented
these medals, think about what has occurred. In 1993, no one's computer
had a Zip drive or a Pentium chip. There were only 50 sites on the World
Wide Web--amazing--January of 1993; today, there are about 50 million.
In 1993, cloning animals was still science fiction, but Dolly the sheep
would be born just 4 years later. Since 1993, we've sent robots to rove
on Mars, created prototype cars that get 70 to 80 miles a gallon,
invented Palm Pilots that put the Internet on our belts and lead to the
increasing nightmares of a busy life. [Laughter]
The work that you and your colleagues have done has changed
everything about our lives. It has brought us to the threshold of a new
scientific voyage that promises to change everything all over again.
Perhaps no science today is more compelling than the effort to
decipher the human genome,
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the string of 3 billion letters that make up our genes. In my lifetime,
we'll go from knowing almost nothing about how our genes work to
enlisting genes in the struggle to prevent and cure illness. This will
be the scientific breakthrough of the century, perhaps of all time. We
have a profound responsibility to ensure that the life-saving benefits
of any cutting-edge research are available to all human beings.
Today, we take a major step in that direction by pledging to lead a
global effort to make the raw data from DNA sequencing available to
scientists everywhere to benefit people everywhere. To this end, I am
pleased to announce a groundbreaking agreement between the United States
and the United Kingdom, one which I reconfirmed just a few hours ago in
a conversation with Prime Minister Blair and one
which brings the distinguished British Ambassador here today.
This agreement says in the strongest possible terms our genome, the
book in which all human life is written, belongs to every member of the
human race. Already the human genome project, funded by the United
States and the United Kingdom, requires its grant recipients to make the
sequences they discover publicly available within 24 hours. I urge all
other nations, scientists, and corporations to adopt this policy and
honor its spirit. We must ensure that the profits of human genome
research are measured not in dollars but in the betterment of human
life. [Applause] Thank you.
Already, we can isolate genes that cause Parkinson's disease and
some forms of cancer, as well as a genetic variation that seems to
protect its carriers from AIDS. Next month the Department of Energy's
joint genome project will complete DNA sequences for 3 more chromosomes
whose genes play roles in more than 150 diseases, from leukemia to
kidney disease to schizophrenia. And those are just the ones we know
about.
What we don't know is how these genes affect the process of disease
and how they might be used to prevent or to cure it. Right now, we are
Benjamin Franklin with electricity and a kite, not Thomas Edison with a
usable light bulb.
As we take the next step and use this information to develop
therapies and medicines, private companies have a major role. By making
the raw data publicly available, companies can promote competition and
innovation and spur the pace of scientific advance. They need incentives
to throw their top minds into expensive research ahead. They need patent
protection for their discoveries and the prospect of marketing them
successfully, and it is in the Government's interest to see that they
get it.
But as scientists race to decipher our genetic alphabet, we need to
think now about the future and see clearly that in science and
technology, the future lies in openness. We should recognize that access
to the raw data and responsible use of patents and licensing is the most
sensible way to build a sustainable market for genetic medicine. Above
all, we should recognize that this is a fundamental challenge to our
common humanity and that keeping our genetic code accessible is the
right thing to do.
We should also remember that, like the Internet, supercomputers, and
so many other scientific advances, our ability to read our genetic
alphabet grew from decades of research that began with Government
funding. Every American has an investment in unlocking the human genome,
and all Americans should be proud of their investment in this and other
frontiers of science.
I thank all of you for all you have done to build international and
national support for American investment in science and technology. I am
grateful that this administration has had the opportunity to increase
our funding for civilian research every year and that we have requested
an unprecedented increase this year, in areas from nanotechnology to
clean energy to space exploration.
As the new century opens, we are setting out on a new voyage of
discovery, not just into human cells but into the human heart. We cannot
know what lies ahead. Each new discovery presents even more new
questions. What is the purpose of the 97 percent of our genetic makeup
whose function we don't know? What will we find in the genes left to
identify? How will we make sure the benefits of genetic research are
widely and fairly shared? How will we make sure that millions of
Americans living longer lives also live better and more fulfilling ones?
Almost 200 years ago, Lewis and Clark set out on a voyage of
discovery that was planned in this room, where Thomas Jefferson and
Meriwether Lewis laid out maps on tables, right where you're sitting
and, though it would be politically incorrect today, tromped around on
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animal skins on the floor. [Laughter] That discovery would not only map
the contours of our continent but expand forever the frontier of our
national imagination.
Before setting out, when Meriwether Lewis was here in the East Room
with Thomas Jefferson, poring over maps and sharing the lessons in
natural science, he actually lived on the south side of this room, in
two small rooms that Thomas Jefferson had constructed in this big room
for him. I must say today, I wish I could ask all of you to do the same.
[Laughter] I always feel that when I do this, the wrong person is
talking. I wish we could hear from all of you today.
One of the things that I wish I could do a better job of as
President is sparking the interest and understanding of every single
citizen in the work you do--of everyone's ability to see how profoundly
significant what goes on in your labs and in your minds is to their
future. I do think the American people are coming a long way on that,
and I tried to talk in the State of the Union in ways that would help. I
also try to think of little ways to illustrate how you are changing our
conception of the most basic things: what is big and what is small, what
is long and what is short. Dr. Lane has actually
given me a primer of what nanotechnology is, and I can carry on a fairly
meaningful subject about something that is totally unfathomable to me.
[Laughter]
And last year, Neil Armstrong and
his colleagues came back to the White House to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of his walk on the Moon. And while he did it, as a part of
the ceremony, he gave me--just on loan--a vacuum-packed Moon rock which,
if you see the photographs now of the Oval Office with the two chairs
and the couches and the table in between, the Moon rock is now visible
to the world that sees it. And when Members of Congress and others come
in and get all heated up and angry over some issue, I often call a time
out, and I say, ``Wait a minute. See that rock? It came off the Moon.
It's 3.6 billion years old. We're all just passing through. Chill out.''
[Laughter] It works every time. [Laughter] So there's a practical gain I
got from scientific advance. [Laughter]
There are many other things that have happened that have enriched
our lives. I have to acknowledge the presence here of my good friend
Stevie Wonder, who has had a lot to do with
improving musical technology and is obviously interested in some of the
scientific developments now going on which might restore sight to people
and other movements to people who have suffered debilitating paralysis
and other things. And we thank you, Stevie, for being here today. Thank
you.
As our honorees receive their medals, we thank them; all of us thank
them for the way they have changed the way we view our planet and
broadened infinitely the ways we gather and store knowledge. You are
part of an unbroken chain from Lewis and Jefferson to Edison and
Einstein, from the cotton gin to the space shuttle, from a vaccine for
polio to the mysteries of DNA. I thank each of you for what you have
done to change our world and to enrich our minds, our imaginations, and
our hearts.
And I think--I learned right before I came in here that it is
infinitely appropriate that you are receiving these awards on Albert
Einstein's birthday. So thank you very much. Congratulations.
Commander, please read the citations.
[At this point, Comdr. Michael M. Gilday,
USN, Navy Aide to the President, read the citations, and the President
presented the medals.]
The President. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I want to just say two
things in closing. First of all, we saw again today another triumph of
the scientific method. After two failures, all the other honorees took
off their glasses on their own. [Laughter] It was truly amazing.
This has been a wonderful day. I'd like to invite all of you to join
us in the State Dining Room for a reception in honor of the award
recipients.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 3:23 p.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair of the
United Kingdom; Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin (Buzz)
Aldrin, and Michael Collins; and musician Stevie Wonder.