Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences ed. by Robert W. Seidel

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 991 Wenk would hardly disagree with this exhortation, though he would caution that analysts should “guard against the seduction of pure rationality” (p. 204). His principles for social management of tech­ nology distill nicely the book’s insights, which, in turn, derive from a blend of scholarship and practical experience: “All technological choices require tradeoffs, as between benefits, costs, and risks among different interests, and between the short- and long-run effects. Indeed, risk is a social judgment and must be accommodated by compromise, usually at some economic cost” (p. 209). And “The more advanced the investment in technology and the closer the technology to imple­ mentation, the more inhibited are advocates in examining undesirable impacts and alternatives. Thus originates a form of technological de­ terminism” (p. 210). Wenk suggests his principles might help citizens in considering tech­ nological initiatives the way a checklist helps airline pilots about to take off. His analysis is sensitive and sensible, driven by a realistic view of the constraints under which policymakers operate and the opportunities and limits facing citizens who ought to become more involved in guiding technological choices. Among the three books, it is most likely to provide readers with both an understanding of the nuances of S&T policy and a basis for improving it. Albert H. Teich Dr. Teich is head of the Office of Public Sector Programs at the American Asso­ ciation for the Advancement of Science, which is responsible for activities in public policy and public understanding of science and technology. His reader, Technology and the Future (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1972), is in its fourth edition. Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, vol. 18, pt. 1. Edited by Robert W. Seidel. Berkeley: University of California Of­ fice for History of Science and Technology and University of Cal­ ifornia Press, 1987. Pp. 229; notes. Paper. Single copy: $9.50 (individual); $11.50 (institution); +$2.00 handling outside the United States. This volume includes papers from a symposium on Cooperative Research in Government and Industry at the XVIIth International Congress of History of Science that was held in Berkeley, California, in 1985. The symposium was convened by Robert Seidel, who also served as guest editor for this issue. The collection marks something of a departure for John Heilbron’s journal, which has heretofore focused primarily on the conceptual history of science, in general in a limited local social context, with only passing attention to technology and the broader global/geopolitical/military contexts. All of the papers are significantly concerned with what are sometimes—misleadingly— referred to as science-based technologies. Most are centrally focused on the interactions of universities, industry, military, and government laboratories in the generation of new science and technology of na­ 992 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE tional strategic interest. David DeVorkin and Allan Needell zero in on postwar cooperation between such institutions to develop space technologies; Seidel on their convergences of interest in military laser research; and Stuart W. Leslie contributes an excellent article on the military role in the development of interdisciplinary research labo­ ratories (especially in microwaves, electronics, and materials research) at Stanford. Lillian Hoddeson’s article, “The First Large-Scale Ap­ plication of Superconductivity: The Fermilab Energy Doubler, 1972— 1983,” is better characterized as a conventional (and internalist) lab­ oratory success story—for the most part as told in the words of its actors and as recounted here by its official historian. The volume’s preface describes the American military of the post­ war era as “the greatest patrons of science in history,” which will do as a gross description but leaves relatively untouched the sort of sci­ ence (and technology) most preferentially produced. Such matters begin to be taken up especially in Seidel’s piece, and most fully in Paul Forman’s superb “Behind Quantum Electronics: National Se­ curity as Basis for Physical Research in the United States, 1940—1960.” Significantly, these are the last two articles in the volume. Forman’s thesis is that, starting between 1940 and 1960, American physics in the era of the military-industrial-scientific state “underwent a quali­ tative change in its purposes and character, an enlistment and...