Letter: Modern science relies on facts to bridge racial barriers

Sir: National Science Week gets off to a misguided start in the Independent with a generous dose of confused thinking in the article by Ziauddin Sardar.

The only thing that holds Mr Sardar's ideas together is anti-

Europeanism. On the one hand he wants to claim credit for non-

Europeans having contributed to the ideas of Copernicus, Newton, et al. On the other hand he claims that non-Western scientists have no need of these (European) giants of scientific history. He concludes: 'There could be many universally valid and culturally distinct sciences.' Pigs could fly]

Then there is the nonsense that the second law of thermodynamics is racist. It is an extremely well-established finding that efficiency of heat transfer increases with increase of temperature difference. If that makes reality racist, then hard cheese.

It does not follow from that finding that bicycles are less efficient than cars (which use high temperatures) as a means of transport. Modern science is remarkable in the way it bridges national and racial barriers. It is a pity that Mr Sardar seeks to establish a scientific apartheid.

Yours sincerely,

ROBIN P. M. CLARKE

Birmingham

21 March