Essay:Science and policy
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Science and policy are often at odds, and when they are it can take decades or even centuries to resolve the disagreement. The history of science contains several examples of scientists offering theories which ran counter to the official policy of a government or a church, but being told to shut up. Galileo's encounter with the Inquisition over the mobility of the Earth is the most famous example, but Ignaz Semmelweis and the story of childbed fever is a more recent example.