"Hanging in the Louvre Museum in Paris is an imposing painting, The Preaching of St Paul at Ephesus. In this 1649 work by Eustache Le Sueur, the fiery apostle lifts his right hand as if scolding the audience, while clutching a book of scripture in his left. Among the rapt or fearful listeners are people busily throwing books into a fire."
Okay, but in the USA, over the last 60 years we've seen an astonishing loss of religious authority, as well as parental authority, as well as teaching authority. There is no way to bring back scientific authority without also discussing the wider loss of authority.
Nor is the USA alone, but it is not the entire West that is effected. Anyone who wants to see the contrast can visit Britain, and then Poland. In Poland, you can still see the older social structures, and older notions about both religious authority and teaching authority and parental authority.
In the USA, in the year 2019, it is common to see these things:
1. a person at a party says they are "spiritual, but I don't believe in organized religion"
2. a parent spanks their child because their child misbehaved, and the parent is then investigated by the authorities
3. a teacher goes off script to offer their personal opinion of the Vietnam War, and then finds their whole career is at risk
Every single profession is now under attack in the USA. The older spirit of independent professions is now under attack.
I'm not saying this is good or bad, I'm just pointing out it is a fact of life. There has been some progress made in stamping out certain abuses of power, but at the cost of stripping most of the professions of their previous independence.
If you'd like to bring back scientific authority, you need to address the wider issues.