Two of the US scientists awarded the Nobel prize for opening up a new era of astronomy by detecting gravitational waves hope the attention will make Americans less inclined to dismiss scientific consensus in favour of politics.
A trio of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won the Nobel prize for physics for a half-century of work that confirmed the presence of the ripples in space and time predicted by Albert Einstein.
The win, the second of the week by US scientists, comes as the administration of President Donald Trump has proposed cutting funding for science research and expressed skepticism over climate change.
That reflects skepticism among the broader American public, where a growing number of people reject scientific findings on issues from whether climate change is man-made to the safety of vaccines.
"We live in an epoch where rational reasoning associated with evidence isn't universally accepted and is in fact in jeopardy. That worries me a lot, said Rainer Weiss, an emeritus professor of physics at MIT, and part of the team honoured on Tuesday.
"If this gives people who are not me but others the credential to be able to stand out and say, 'Listen to this,' that is valuable," Weiss, who won half the $US1.1 million ($A1.4 million) prize, said in a phone interview.
Barry Barish of Caltech, also an emeritus professor of physics, sounded similar concerns.
Polls of US voters show that Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to believe global warming is caused by humans.
Skepticism about science is not limited to climate.
A 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center found that 10 per cent of Americans believe the risks of vaccines outweigh their benefits, with 17 per cent saying parents should be able to choose not to vaccinate their children even if doing so creates a health risk for others.
During his election campaign, Trump described climate change as a hoax invented by the Chinese to make US industry less competitive. As president he said he would pull out of the Paris climate accord, saying it was damaging to business.
