Thousands protested Friday against the Trump administration’s massive cuts to research funding and federal agencies charged with advancing science.
Rallies, dubbed “Stand Up for Science,” brought together leading researchers, former administrators, and people who benefited from medical advances. The main rally took place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., with an estimated 30 events held across the country, including Seattle, Tallahassee, Florida, and France.
“I am a patriot, I love my country,” Dr. Francis Collins, a long-time former director of the National Institutes of Health who abruptly resigned in February, told attendees on the National Mall. “And I am worried about my country right now.”
Collins, a physician-scientist, served in several Democratic and Republican administrations over three decades, including pioneering work on the Human Genome Project, which resulted in medical advances and a better understanding of human biology.
At the end of his speech, he reached for his trademark guitar, which had double helix strands of DNA on the neck. He then performed a singalong for “all the good people,” including students and doctors, he explained.
“We are joined together by this noble dream,” he sang in harmony.
View photos from rallies across the nation.
