Kevles Chapters XXI to end

M. GoldmanFall 2015

Physics 3000Science and Public Policy

meets in Gamow tower rm F931(take elevator opposite Physics Office to floor 9)

Chs. XXI & XXII: The bomb & Postwar Research Policy, Victory for Elitism• What were the principle issues underlying the

Kilgore-Bush controversy over the mission of the National Science Foundation right before it was officially established?– Kilgore:

• Fed gov't to finance basic research, including civilian-controlled defense research.

• Need-based socially purposeful science would be encouraged.• Recommendations were to be made to president, who would control NSF.• Social sciences to be supported.• Some geographical distribution.• Patents go to gov't instead of to subcontractees.

– Bush• Gov't should fund science directly (through peer review)• Best-science elitism rather than geographic distribution.• President does not have direct control of NSF• No socially purposeful science. Intellectual freedom to pursue basic

science.• No social science.• Patents go to researcher and industry.

Cont'd • NSF and Education in 2015

• What was the role of the Atomic Energy Commission after WW-II– Complete control over the production,

ownership and use of fissionable materials.

• Which of the following funded basic research after WW-II?– The Office of Naval Research, National Science

Foundation, NASA, National Bureau of Standards, Department of Defense, or the AEC (later the Department of Energy.

– All of them!

Cont'd• What was the Baruch plan for

controlling the spread of atomic energy to other countries and why did it fail?– Share knowledge of atomic energy

with other countries for peaceful purposes

– Inspections to assure peaceful use was not acceptable to Soviet Union for obvious reasons.

• How did atomic weapons spread?– To Soviet Union through espionage

and good science there.– Example of India: Energy producing

nuclear reactors were converted into weapons.

– Espionage and illegal trade of atomic secrets (Pakistan exported ideas)

• Climate in late 60's & early 70's: revolt against science reminiscent of late 20's (Metropolis) and 30's – “Duck and Cover”– Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to

Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick

Video Links• The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nag

asaki (YouTube) Warning – contains gruesome scenes

• Fission vs fusion bombs (YouTube) Warning – some upsetting content.

• Duck and Cover - 1950s Civil Defense Film against A-Bomb (for school children) (YouTube)

• Doomsday Machine Dr. Strangelove• Post Doomsday Plans of Dr. Strangelove• Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick) _ Major Ko

ng rides the bomb• Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick) _ We'll me

et again (End)

• Chernobyl nuclear accident 1986 Warning – upsetting!

• Metropolis, Fritz Lang 1927 silent film Fears of 1927 technology (YouTube)

• Science professors approved of student activism in the 60's against war & technology in Vietnam, BUT, what was the effect of the hippy movement on rational thought?– Astrology, mysticism, the occult, drugs,

psychedelic art, acid rock, sexuality — all became staples of the counter-cultural wave.

• When and why was NASA formed?– Within a year after Sputnik– "How much money would you need to make us

even with Russia (Pg. 385; Kindle 9489).

• Did Kennedy's Science Advisor, J. Wiesner recommend the Moon mission in 61?– No, Kennedy launched the moon mission

against his advice which reflected the opinion of most scientists.

• How did the cold war with the Soviet Union affect science?– It stimulated massive expenditures in US

science. (Kindle

Kevles: Cold War

Cold War, Cont'd• Why was the Stanford linear accelerator funded in

1959 by President Eisenhower?– In response to Soviet Union's proposal to build an

expensive accelerator (Kindle 9489)

• How did science education in the Soviet Union compare with science education in US?– Pg. 384, 5: Soviet children crammed into 10 years or

less what American children did in 12, and for both boys and girls the "main emphasis was on science and technology." In addition to ten years of mathematics, every child took 4 years of chemistry, 5 of physics, 6 of biology.

– In science, especially, American schools, with their undue emphasis on adjustment over learning were found to be an amalgam of inadequate facilities, shoddy instrouction and teachers who were ill paid and poorly prepared. About 75% of American high-school pupils studied no physics at all.

• Describe the rise of research universities after WW-II (Kindle 9462)

– Academic physicists became an elite group in universities

– Science at research universities was funded by many different government sources

– Overhead (indirect costs) from physics grants funded other needs at universities and still do.

Cont'd• What was the nature of the explosive growth in

Federal funding of science and technology after WW-II?

• Why did this growth occur? • Was the funding worthwhile or did it go to far?

(i.e., Did it produce results worth the expenditure of taxpayer dollars?)

– More fed. support for research universities, more students, group projects (high energy), Nobel prizes, accelerators. Was this too much? (Kindle 9818)

– H-bomb development (50's) in US and in Soviet Union. Thermonuclear fusion may still solve energy problem.

– $3b in 1956, $15b in 1965 ($370 m in basic res)

• Effects of Cold War on Space Physics. – Sputnik and missile gap– More money for defense after Sputnik.

Nuclear Test Bans• Limited Test Ban Treaty signed by U.S. in 1963

prohibits nuclear testing in atmosphere, space or underwater.– Did not stop U.S. from developing and producing nuclear weapons

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signed in 1968 by Washington, London, and Moscow. – NPT requires parties to the Treaty to

• "seek to achieve the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time

• and to continue negotiations to this end, • and to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to

the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date • and to nuclear disarmament ...."