Philip Abelson: pariah with portfolio

Abstract

One recent morning, 65-year-old Philip H. Abelson, editor of Science, geochemist, and dedicated runner, put on his shorts and reeled off a quarter mile in 75 seconds. Joggers know this time is good—spectacular in fact for a sedentary sexagenarian. It means that Abelson is probably in the best shape of his life. Abelson, of course, is more than just the editor of Science , the country's leading general journal in the field and pioneer in that hybrid craft called science-policy journalism. But he calls himself a journalist and takes some pride in the role of outsider. Yet he is an insider, too, in that clique of Washington personages who over the years have helped deliver science policy to that curious state of autism it suffers from today. Abelson, in fact, has helped define the symptom. Journalists would call him good copy. But he is rare copy because, being a journalist, he is rarely interviewed. ...