Scientific responsibility

Scientists are human beings like anyone else, with the same ability to accept or evade responsibility for their actions. It can be argued, however, that scientists have a particular duty to accept responsibility for what they do in their professional capacity.
Science does not stand still: there is always something new to learn. (In 1933 Ernest Rutherford, who first split an atom, told the public that the idea of atomic power was ‘moonshine’.)