1.1 Government-funded science: vannevar bush and the national  (Page 2/4)

The potential of science and the new frontier

The period immediately after World War II was one of boundless enthusiasm for the power of science in the United States. New technologies had been essential to success in the war and both the government and public were optimistic about science’s potential during peacetime. It was such that in November 1944–before the war was officially over–President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Vannevar Bush, to write a report on how the rapid scientific progress seen during wartime could be continued. Bush exemplified the idealistic view of science in his response eight months later–while the fight was ongoing in the Pacific.

The title of the Director’s document, Science: The Endless Frontier, was the first clue of the nature of its content. The second was a quote that introduces the report, taken from President Roosevelt’s request letter,

"New frontiers of the mind are before us, and if they are pioneered with the same vision, boldness, and drive with which we have waged this war we can create a fuller and more fruitful employment and a fuller and more fruitful life.”

Bush’s language in describing these accomplishments was important, for he characterized “science” as an abstract entity that was independent of human intervention. For example, with respect to the millions of new jobs, he wrote, “Science made that possible.” Still, he explicitly stated that this entity was not a self-supporting solution–“Science, by itself, provides no panacea for individual, social, and economic ills”–but that it is an essential part–“without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.” In other words, the Director was communicating the view that science was not a result of human ingenuity, but an independent entity that must be exploited.

This attitude contributed to Bush’s emphasis on the importance of basic research. In order to take advantage of science, one must have “an understanding of nature and its laws” (provided by basic research) which can then be applied to practical applications. The Director noted that the primary goal of industry was the development of new products, not new knowledge. The radio was developed because of knowledge in electromagnetic radiation, which was discovered by an earlier group with unrelated intentions.