Foreign Media: Terence Tao Says Trump Cut Research Funding, the U.S. Science System Suffered Severe Damage
Terence Tao, known as the "Mozart of Mathematics" and a professor at UCLA, wrote an article stating that the Trump administration, just six months after taking office, used executive orders to drastically cut research funding, suspending or canceling billions of dollars in federal funding projects. Key institutions such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) had their budgets slashed, and many multi-year research projects that had already been approved were suddenly interrupted. Scholarships and postdoctoral programs were significantly reduced, severely impacting the training of the next generation of researchers.
Tao's own funding for supporting students and his own research was also suspended. The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), which he belongs to, faced shutdown and was only temporarily maintained through emergency fundraising. He emphasized that the NSF's budget for mathematics and physical sciences is about $1.7 billion annually, accounting for less than 0.1% of the federal budget, but has long produced significant results, such as improvements in MRI algorithms and the development of mRNA vaccines. Tao criticized the government for politicizing science, undermining independent reviews and scientific freedom, and threatening the United States' technological advantages over decades.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841044544180232/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself