The results for the UK’s  ‘Science is Vital’ rally (first mentioned in my Oct. 6, 2010 posting) are in. A BBC News article declares that the rally which took place Sat., Oct. 9, 2010 saw this,

Hundreds of scientists have gathered outside the Treasury to protest against expected cuts to science funding.

The rally was organised by the Science is Vital campaign, whose petition calling for no cuts to funding has been signed by more than 20,000 people.

Speaking at the protest, the former head of the Medical Research Council, Professor Colin Blakemore, said cuts would be “disastrous”.

The government says science spending must stand up to “economic scrutiny”.

Meanwhile, Jenny Rohn, the scientist who accidentally started the campaign with one of her blog postings, had this to say about the rally on the Guardian’s Science Desk blog in her Oct. 12, 2010 posting,

Last Saturday, several thousand scientists and their supporters massed in front of the Treasury building in Westminster to speak out against proposed funding cuts for scientific research. Standing on the stage for my opening speech, I surveyed the sea of protestors in a state of awe.

It was past the starting time of 2pm, but people were still streaming into King Charles Street from both ends of the road. I could see people of all descriptions: famous scientists, young students, families with small children. Many people sported white coats and held up placards or colourful accessories: a foam model of Jupiter; a buckyball on a stick; the international symbol for toxic irritants with a photo of Vince Cable superimposed within the yellow triangle. The mood was well-behaved and upbeat, but the opening cheer echoed with a mighty roar, driving home just how formidable people can be when many act as one.

It had been only a month since I wrote a blog post proposing that scientists take to the streets – four short weeks from a crazy idea to its culmination. Along the way I received a whirlwind education in politics and grassroots organisation. My colleagues and I might be good at splicing genes or peering into the depths of the universe, but how many scientists does it take to assemble 300 placards in four hours while being faintly high on spray glue? (Answer: about a dozen.) These lessons and others occurred in a haze of distracted days and late nights, and go some way toward explaining the complaint that more scientists don’t engage in policy activism: if they did, at least on this scale, research would grind to a halt.

After having been in more than one rally, I can say that officials almost always underestimate while organizers overestimate attendance.

Rohn’s project developed some synergistic energy (she got some help and they got a boost in media interest) from the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CASE) in the UK. This resulted in what both groups must have rejoiced over, a meeting in the House of Commons. From the Guardian’s Science Desk blog October 13, 2010 posting,

It’s rare to see the largest committee room at the House of Commons packed with constituents demanding to meet their MPs. It’s rarer still for those constituents to be mild-mannered scientists and engineers.

But that’s exactly what we had yesterday when well over 100 constituents came to parliament to lobby their MPs about the importance of science funding.

Many of them had never been to parliament before, and some had come from as far afield as Norwich and Pembrokeshire, to do so.

… more than 20 MPs came to listen to their constituents concerns, and yet more sent along their staff.

The lobby was organised by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) as part of the Science is Vital campaign – to show the political price that would be paid for cuts to the UK’s research funding, and to drive home core messages about what such cuts would mean.

I wish the scientists good luck with the UK budget due on Wednesday, October 20, 2010.