WASHINGTON _ Scientists and their supporters took to the streets of Washington and other cities around the world Saturday, with many expressing worries about a diminishing role for fact-based research under the Trump administration.
Waving signs with slogans like "Science is Real" and "Ask for Evidence!" the marchers gathered at the base of the Washington Monument. The crowd swelled by the thousands even as a light rain turned to a downpour.
The event, timed to coincide with Earth Day, was billed as nonpartisan, with scientists, students, researchers and advocates worldwide seeking to promote the role of science in policymaking and public life.
Organizers encouraged participants to wear work gear such as their lab coats, or to dress as a science hero. Nancy Davis of Baltimore came to the Washington march wearing Revolutionary War-era regalia as Benjamin Franklin. She said her chemist sister approved of the tribute to the Founding Father and part-time electricity experimenter.
Marcher Jeanne Walton an eighth-grade science teacher at Central York Middle School in York, Pa., said she worried about the effect of some current political rhetoric on her young students.
"I'm watching science being denied and undermined," said Walton, who was marching with her son, Trey, a mechanical engineering major at Temple University in Philadelphia. "We're replacing facts with propaganda."
Hours before the Washington march, parallel events took place in later time zones. Among the larger events were marches in Berlin, London and Geneva.
More marches were held in other U.S. cities, including Boston and Los Angeles.
