The wastage of the skills and talents of our capable young scientists is a disgrace to the world. The resources exist to put them all to work doing constructive things. Instead of that the substance of the earth is expanded on frivolities, on all kinds of power wasting devices and gas guzzling cars. Worst of all is the expenditure of technical expertise, energy and money on the arms race. Despite the wherewithal to wipe man off the face of the earth, ten times over, there is clamor to squander even more.

Interview of Lawrence Hugh Aller by David DeVorkin at Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 18, 1979 Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA.