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Gordon Brown gives Romanes Lecture at Oxford University; Gordon Brown speech SOT - Story that Einstein when around Britain trying to explain science to the public, did a nationwide tour visiting all the cities of the country, got bored giving same speech, one night his chauffeur offered to take his place because he had memorised speech off by heart, it went very well, until the Chairman of the meeting asked for questions from the audience... - The "So What, So Everything" campaign which the government launched last month is aiming to present science not as a list of facts to know or learn but as a way of looking at the world around us; to invite people to think about the joy of discovery – and science as it affects their world - highlighting the role of science in the achievements of popular heroes - like Britain's Olympic winning cycling team and the Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton - who have been able to push at the boundaries of possibility because of the power of British science and technology / Want to create a modern scientific culture for our times, just as in the Nineteenth Century, when scientists like Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell were the celebrities of their day / And as we develop this public awareness and appreciation of science, so we must build on Britain's strong tradition of debating key ethical issues / In the past the image of science has I believe suffered in the public's mind through our initial experiences of animal testing, GM crops and stem cells, and much of the media coverage that has dominated people's view of these issues in the past has served the cause not of legitimate progress / But I believe we have learnt lessons from this - and we are now seeing a better, more balanced debate with the public / Indeed, we should be reassured about the way we now approach these difficult issues; that we have come up with means by which these controversial areas can be discussed and dealt with / It's a central component of ...