Academic Brouhaha

Your story on the National Academy of Science's refusal to grant membership to a political scientist ((EDUCATION, May 11)) has helped perpetuate the myth that physical scientists are totally objective in their work. Obviously, you have not noticed how physicists mold their positions on the feasibility of President Reagan's Star Wars program to correlate with their political ideologies. While the scientific merit of Political Scientist Samuel Huntington's work is debatable, Mathematician Serge Lang's comments on that work reveal considerable ignorance about the nature of science. This is not surprising. Though mathematics is the language of science, it is not a science.

James Lee Ray, Professor

Political Science

Florida State University

Tallahassee