3 November 2006
Scientists should be as celebrated and famous as our sport stars, actors, or business entrepreneurs, Tony Blair has said.
The PM, in a lecture to the Royal Society in Oxford, insisted it was time to bring science back to the people and "galvanise the young" into showing interest.
During his speech, Mr Blair stressed that science was vital to Britain’s future as the "knowledge economy" grew.
He joked that his teachers from school would be surprised to hear of his passion for the subject.
"I was not so much poor at science as a refusenik about it," he said, but now he was "born-again", fascinated and inspired by the possibilities.
On the first day of his trip to Oxford the PM went to see Regenatec, a company who specialise in converting engines to run on plant and vegetable oils.
The PM was impressed by what he was shown, calling it "visionary stuff, directly linked to saving our planet; but also hopefully commercial".
Afterwards, he headed to see the scientific facility known as Diamond Light Source, where he was shown the inside of a particle accelerator.
You can now take part in a webchat with science minister Lord Sainsbury. He’ll be online from 1700 GMT on Thursday 9 November to answer your questions on any science issue.
Background to PM’s lecture
We have a number of expert papers you can read, which helped shape the PM’s thinking in the run-up to the lecture.
The PM has also praised four innovative science projects which demonstrate some of the excellent work going on in the UK in science and technology.
Read about the Government’s approach to scientific investment where there is no room for complacency.
His speech was the fourth in the Our Nation’s Future series, which the PM launched to start a real debate about the vital issues facing the UK.
The New Scientist podcast
In an interview with New Scientist magazine, which you can listen to as a podcast on our website, Mr Blair stressed again that science was vital to Britain’s future.
The wide-ranging Q and A covered subjects including MMR jabs, GM foods and climate change.
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