Since the first days of the United States, our leaders have recognized the importance of science and especially engineering. Several among the founding fathers were inventors and scientists themselves. George Washington continually experimented with farm crops. Thomas Jefferson’s estate is replete with weather and time-keeping instruments. Benjamin Franklin made discoveries and developed inventions that are celebrated even today. Abraham Lincoln, nominally a lawyer, held a patent. It should come as no surprise that our Constitution calls for the legal protection of scientific inquiry and discovery.
It is in this spirit that President Obama held the first White House Science Fair in October 2010. The second one is today. The President will honor over 100 students from 40 different competitions around the country who have excelled in science and math. I’ll be there along with several well-respected educators and leaders from the science and engineering community.
Most of our successful corporations, the ones that touch our lives everyday like Amazon, Apple, Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Pay-Pal, and now Facebook, were started by engineers—people who use science and math to create things and solve problems. For the United States to remain the world leader in technological innovation, we need more engineers and more scientists. We need more people, who can do math, design software, and create new applications for machines that have yet to come into existence.
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