The pressure of grades and league tables also works against the interest of the hard sciences.

ECONOMIST: How to stop physicists opting for media studies

Innovation is essential to our economy and many high growth areas, especially in the hard sciences, require years of training.

FORBES: Training Our Competition

Although his father wanted him to stick with the hard sciences, Wolfowitz went on to the University of Chicago, to study for a Ph.

NEWYORKER: The Next Crusade

And not just in the hard information sciences, either. (We won't attempt to cover biotech in this column.) The quantum era so fetchingly described by Feynman has loosened our thinking in other fields, too.

FORBES: Digital Rules

Take a long, hard look at the stock chart for Human Genome Sciences since it went public in 1993.

FORBES: Why Biotech Investing Is Like Gambling In Vegas

As dean, Mr. Kagan championed hard sciences, rigorous hiring standards for faculty, and the protection of free speech.

WSJ: The Weekend Interview with Donald Kagan: 'Democracy May Have Had Its Day'

But rather than trawl through the social sciences side of this debate, why not look at the hard science side?

FORBES: Why Are There So Few Women In IT And Telecoms?