Letter: National Science Week: was it empty rhetoric or a cause for celebration?

Sir: As we come to the end of the UK's first week celebrating science, engineering and technology, may I thank the thousands of people and organisations who have contributed to its success. It has been difficult to open a newspaper without being aware of set7 , and the radio and television companies have also played a major part, for which I am most grateful.

Science, engineering and technology are essential to our economy, central to our children's education and now - increasingly - essential components of our culture. Science gives all of us fresh ways of looking at the world.

I am particularly grateful to William Waldegrave and his department for funding this British Association week. There is a great deal more to do in advancing public appreciation of science, and I hope that we may all do it together.

Yours sincerely,

ANNE McLAREN

President

British Association for the Advancement of Science

London, W1

25 March