The Glassco Commission was really not interested in good…

“The Glassco Commission was really not interested in good science. It was interested in good accounting.”

Gerhard Herzberg

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The commission prioritized financial reporting over scientific quality, valuing numbers over discovery.

In simple terms: They valued accounting over science.

Key Takeaway

Advocate for scientific integrity over bureaucracy.

Themes

science accounting integrity policy

Mood

concerned critical

Type

analytical ethical

When to use this quote

grant funding
policy making
academic administration

Key Concepts

research ethics institutional priorities

Questions to Reflect On

How can science be protected from bureaucratic misuse?
What safeguards ensure research quality?

A Different Perspective

Financial focus can stifle innovation.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

Good science Science

More by Gerhard Herzberg

The citation for the 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry reads, 'for contribution to the knowledge of electronic structures and geometry of molecules, especially free…

Gerhard Herzberg

I was brought up as a physicist.

Gerhard Herzberg

The visible and near-ultraviolet emission spectrum of the CH radical has been known ever since spectra of an ordinary Bunsen burner have been taken.

Gerhard Herzberg

The CH radical is a very reactive radical which, under most conditions, has a very short lifetime.

Gerhard Herzberg

Interest in the pseudo-sciences has become extraordinary.

Gerhard Herzberg

Dealing with the health of people is more important than political considerations.

Gerhard Herzberg

Every newspaper feels it must have an astrology column, and even in the Carleton University bookstore this morning, I found books on astrology for…

Gerhard Herzberg

For polyatomic free radicals and ions, one is dependent both for the ground states and the excited states on the study of electronic spectra…

Gerhard Herzberg

Pursue science because it is knowledge, because it broadens our horizons. There is so much more to be discovered.

Gerhard Herzberg

If you start from nothing, it is very difficult to get anywhere.

Gerhard Herzberg

It is very difficult to find appropriate words to say 'thank you' for an honour like the Nobel Prize. It is the supreme honour…

Gerhard Herzberg

Many science people feel groups like WHO are there to do a job and not to be dealt with in a political way.

Gerhard Herzberg

There is nothing wrong with good accounting, except that it does not necessarily lead to good science.

Gerhard Herzberg

Explore all 14 Gerhard Herzberg quotes

More Accounting quotes

We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future. We shall never be able to say, "Ha! My perception,…

Gregory Bateson

“Outer happiness has Diminishing Marginal Utility; the more it grows, the satisfaction decreases. Resort to inner happiness.”

Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma

Regulations for international accounting and funding will have to be examined to identify policies that inadvertently discourage institutional investors from putting their resources into…

Jose Angel Gurria

There is no business like show business. There is also no business like certified public accounting, but that doesn't rhyme as well.

Craig Shaw Gardner

“With great goals, comes the high costs; both fixed and variable. Time is the fixed cost; efforts, variable. Spend passionately.”

Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma

The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting.

Warren Buffett

“Financial statements are my novels, I am a Chartered Accountant.”

Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma

The religious hypothesis, therefore, must be considered only as a particular method of accounting for the visible phenomena of the universe: but no just…

David Hume

Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that…

Warren Buffett