There is a long history of attacks on scientists. During the Inquisition, the Roman Catholic Church charged Galileo with heresy and, after imprisonment and threats of torture, forced him to renounce his theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. In the 1950s, politicians sought to silence scientists that allegedly held political views sympathetic to Communists.In recent years, research results, rather than the scientist's religion or politics, have motivated attacks on scientists. As environmental issues grow in economic significance and as science takes on increasing importance in influencing public opinion and resolving environmental policy debates, suppression of environmental science has become increasingly common. As one author observed, the power of science to legitimate environmental positions by claiming exclusive truth makes ownership of science one of the most contested issues in modern environmentalism.
ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BUSINESS AND SOCIAL PROFITABILITY
