The Promise of Technology

Jewett, Frank B.

doi:10.1126/science.99.2558.1

Cited by 1 publication

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“…… The emphasis I have given to basic research and freedom of inquiry does not mean that we should pay any less attention than we do to homely experimentation directed toward solving everyday problems. (Auchter 1942: 287, 288) In the case of engineering, the concept of fundamental research largely represented the ongoing process of the scientification of technology (Gibb 1937: 233–234; Jewett 1944). Institutes such as the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research at the University of Philadelphia, which defined itself as a link between science and technology (or in the words of Edward Weidlein “between the world of science and the industry”), used the term fundamental research as a general label for their projects and training (Weidlein 1935: 562).…”

Section: From Knowledge Sustainability To Purity Discourse: Us Sciencmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other scientists shared with Bush the rising concerns over free scientific exchange toward the end of the war (H. S. Taylor 1944: 255; Jewett 1944: 3), but Bush’s report was the first to link the relatively new notion of basic research with an institutional guarantee of scientific autonomy in such a close fashion. This also included his contrasting juxtaposition of basic research with applied research and development.…”

Section: From Knowledge Sustainability To Purity Discourse: Us Sciencmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What is Basic Research? Insights from Historical Semantics

Schauz

2014

Minerva

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For some years now, the concept of basic research has been under attack. Yet although the significance of the concept is in doubt, basic research continues to be used as an analytical category in science studies. But what exactly is basic research? What is the difference between basic and applied research? This article seeks to answer these questions by applying historical semantics. I argue that the concept of basic research did not arise out of the tradition of pure science. On the contrary, this new concept emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when scientists were being confronted with rising expectations regarding the societal utility of science. Scientists used the concept in order to try to bridge the gap between the promise of utility and the uncertainty of scientific endeavour. Only after 1945, when United States science policy shaped the notion of basic research, did the concept revert to the older ideals of pure science. This revival of the purity discourse was caused by the specific historical situation in the US at that time: the need to reform federal research policy after the Second World War, the new dimension of ethical dilemmas in science and technology during the atomic era, and the tense political climate during the Cold War.

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