UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Hey, hey, ho, ho, science is the way to go.
LYNN NEARY, HOST:
The conversation that started between scientists on social media shortly after Donald Trump was elected grew into a global phenomenon yesterday. Thousands of men, women and children in hundreds of cities on six continents came out to show their support for science. The main event was here in Washington D.C., where there was a sea of banners and signs with slogans like science not silence, and oceans are rising and so are we.
CAROL TROSSET: My name is Carol Trosset. My sign says, without data, you're just another person with an opinion.
NEARY: It was the first political event the scientists from Minnesota had ever attended. There were young marchers, too. Elseya Ligon was marching with her mom.
ELSEYA LIGON: My sign says, I want to be a scientist when I grow up, why can't I?
NEARY: The marches took place throughout the country. More than 2,000 miles away in the other Washington, thousands turned out, including non-scientists like Zach Johnson.
ZACH JOHNSON: I thank scientists every day for so many things that science has done for this world. I mean, I'm a farmer, and I depend on science every day to help me do my job better.
NEARY: The slogans and enthusiasm poured across the Atlantic throughout Europe and Great Britain.
SIMON SPIRO: Hello, my name's Simon Spiro. I'm a veterinary pathologist. And I'm here because I'm trying to stand up for facts and evidence-based policy.
NEARY: All told, the crowds turned out for more than 600 official rallies across the world. It wasn't exactly a march, but at the Neumayer Station in Antarctica, a group of seven men and women braved the cold to stand with a banner in hand posing for a photo they posted on Twitter with this message - Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less - a quote from celebrated physicist and chemist Marie Curie.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIGNAL HILL SONG, "WILD WERE THE WAVES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
