Regarding the article “Where have all the scientists gone?” (TES, August 15), as a retired physics graduate, I have to question the received wisdom that “teenagers are abandoning economically vital disciplines such as physics...”
Just what does the country need? Is physics an “economically vital discipline” in this day and age? Are students needed for our chronically contracting manufacturing sector? Or perhaps for our shrinking post-Cold War military research needs? Does a predominantly service-sector economy need physics graduates?
David C Smith
6 Turnberry Close
Bletchley, Bucks
