In Washington, many protesters declined to share their names publicly, for similar reasons. One woman, who wore a surgical mask and a long, white lab coat with the words “Mad Scientist” on the back in red lettering, described herself only as a federally funded researcher “who’s trying to keep things moving forward in these challenging times.” Her field was planetary science, hence her sign: “Good luck getting to Mars without science.”
Elsewhere, three young women, all students, stood together with a sign that read “Science is Apolitical.” One said, “I didn’t tell my parents I’m here,” and they all laughed. She added, “I should be at home doing my research. But I can’t, because we might get defunded. It shouldn’t be political, but because they’re making it that way, we don’t have a choice.”
The speechifying continued through the afternoon. Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Fred Upton, a former Republican representative from Michigan. Representative Bill Foster, Democrat of Illinois and the only Ph.D. physicist in Congress. (“It’s not just science that’s under attack, it’s facts,” he said offstage.) Dr. Allison Agwu, infectious-disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University. Denali Kincaid, a doctoral student in geochemistry and a TikTok communicator. They reminded the audience (unnecessarily, they conceded) of the value of scientific expertise: to make vaccines, accurate weather forecasts, agricultural breakthroughs; to monitor the 150-plus active volcanic systems in the United States alone.
From the sidelines, Mary Doyle, a retired public-health researcher, lamented the depth and seemingly indiscriminate nature of the job and funding cuts. Entire university departments “are going to be gone, because they’re so heavily dependent on federal funding,” she said. Her husband, Scott Nainis, an engineer, said: “We saw a sign that said, ‘Science is best done with scalpels and microscopes, not chainsaws.’”
Both had attended the 2017 march; this one felt different. “It’s a darker mood,” Ms. Doyle said.