History 138 - Class 36

History 138: Science in the U.S.

Class 36 (11/15)
The postwar settlement

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Outline

The postwar settlement
A local example
A new compact between science and the state

Organizational transitions
Bush's presumptions for the OSRD
From national emergency to postwar
The demand for science policy
Creating the NSF: the force field

The postwar setup
The military services
The National Institutes of Health
The AEC and the national laboratories
Motivations, expectations, and payoffs
Aside: the Constitution

A golden age?

Names and Terms

Primary	Secondary
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC, fd. 1947) Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Office of Scientific Research and Development (fd. 1941) Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) Science — The Endless Frontier (1945) National Science Foundation (fd. 1950)	James B. Conant (1893-1978) National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Sen. Harley Kilgore (D-W.Va.) Office of Naval Research (ONR) spinoff

Assignment

Daniel J. Kevles, "The National Science Foundation and the Debate over Postwar Research Policy, 1942-1945: A Political Interpretation of Science—The Endless Frontier," in Scientific, ed. Numbers and Rosenberg, 297-319. [Originally Isis 68 (1977): 5-26.]

What political vision stood behind the Kilgore bill? What is the bill's significance?
What was the response of the scientific community?
What were Bush's political views? What was the agenda of Science—The Endless Frontier?