Noam Chomsky and Subrata Ghoshroy will be discussing how scientific research at MIT has been affected for the past 50+ years by its relationship with outside funding agencies, in particular the US military.

Since the end of the World War II the federal government has largely funded scientific research at U.S. universities. MIT has been receiving millions of dollars annually and a large part of the federal funding
comes from the military.

Scientific research is driven by the passion of students and scholars. But what else shapes and influences our research? And what are the social and economical consequences of our research? At the height of the Vietnam War in 1969, in a campus wide protest, MIT students raised these very questions.

Today, the US government is engaged in a “war against terrorism” which has undermined the scope of our civil liberties. We also face social and political threats from climate change and an energy crisis. What should
be the role of MIT in fighting these global challenges?

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