1.1 Government-funded science: vannevar bush and the national

Before the birth of the national science foundation

Science in early america

Prior to the Civil War and the subsequent industrialization of America the principal public uses made of science were of an ad hoc nature. Only when absolutely necessary were science and policy to intertwine. By the time of the Civil War the scientific profession had undergone an obvious transformation as science became increasingly specialized. In 1863 the National Academy of Sciences was founded by Congress at the insistence of scientists both in and out of government. The academy was created as a self-perpetuating body of scientists charged with investigating various fields of science when called upon to do so by the government.

The victory of the North further allowed for the “general welfare” and the freer hand of the federal government permitted an expansion of permanent scientific agencies. The establishment of agricultural institutions and consequently other government agencies such as the National Bureau of Standards (1901), the Public Health Services (1912), and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (1915). Slowly it was becoming obvious that science had a wide-ranging impact on government apart form any immediate usefulness and that through regulation it frequently provided the lead in the growing interrelation of the public and private sectors of the economy. The threat of WWI meant that research and development in the field of weaponry would be necessary in case of any involvement. A second world war would completely change this lack of initiative and interest.

Science, the government, and world war ii

World War II marked the beginning of a new era for American science as the emergence of “science policy” produced a significant role for science and technology in public affairs. Long before WWII scientific inquiry was nurtured almost entirely by private patronage and philanthropic efforts and it was not until mass consensus was reached that the government found itself in the necessity of funding and consequently controlling scientific practices and research. With the war experience science had proven itself indispensable to the government and a close partnership of some kind between the two was soon to emerge. The time had come to think about what large-scale scientific research meant for American society and democracy. The American research system began to take shape as the nation moved from demobilization to reconstruction of the world economy to stable prosperity, and from Cold War tensions to the Korean War to protracted superpower rivalry.

“One of our hopes is that after the war there will be full employment. To reach that goal the full creative and productive energies of the American people must be released. To create more jobs we must make new and better and cheaper products… These products are founded on new principles and new conceptions which in turn result from basic scientific capital. Moreover, we cannot any longer depend upon Europe as a major source of science capital.” Smith, 70