Shaping Science and Industry: A History of Australia’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1926–49 by Carl B. Schedvin

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 353 beamte or factory inspectors of the Departments of Trade) and industrial self-government (Berufsgenossenschaften or trade corpora­ tions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act [1884], and steam-boiler inspection associations in charge of safe construction). Weber gives the briefest account (pp. 104— 11) of this basic pattern, with no details on accident prevention as attempted by pertinent standards. Instead, he is interested in public debates about enlarging or limiting the power of the federal government, or broadening the concept of occupational safety by including occupational health. As a conse­ quence, the Weimar period gains prominence, and the text is almost identical with chapters 8 and 9 of Technik und Sicherheit. Beginning in 1925, occupational health was gradually included in workmen’s compensation. During the 1960s and 1970s, the regulation of occu­ pational health and safety was seriously intensified, but the “dual system” remained basically unchanged, as Weber’s final chapter makes clear. Peter Lundgreen Dr. Lundgreen is professorofthe social history ofscience at the Universitat Bielefeld. He is the author of Standardization-Testing-Regulation: Studies in the History of the Sciencebased Regulatory State (Bielefeld, 1986). Shaping Science and Industry: A History ofAustralia’s Councilfor Scientific and Industrial Research, 1926—49. By Carl B. Schedvin. Sydney: Allen & Unwin (now Unwin Hyman, 8 Winchester Place, Winches­ ter, Mass. 01890), 1987. Pp. xix + 374; illustrations, tables, notes, index. $45.00. Two years into World War I, it was abundantly clear to many Allied leaders that their nations’ scientific and technological abilities had to be harnessed if they were to meet the challenge of the German partnership of the military with science-based industry. Britain’s response was the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (1915); it was natural that other Commonwealth nations would emulate this lead, and both Australia and Canada created advisory councils in 1916. Neither had the time or resources to act effectively for military research. As Carl Schedvin argues, the council and its successor, the Institute of Science and Industry (1921), had few advantages and little respect. The reorganization of federal science in 1926 and the formation of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was built on hopes of a partnership dreamed of a decade earlier, but it was also a delicate political balancing act in the context of a very young federal system. Australia’s scientific commu­ nity was small, its universities only beginning to appreciate their role in science and technology, and the states’ scientific organizations— 354 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE chiefly agricultural—were as yet little developed. And there was not much money. Yet when World War II brought tremendous challenges and rapid growth to the organization, the CSIR had firmly established itself and garnered respect in most quarters. Schedvin’s theme is that much of this success, as an organization, was due to the exertions of a trio of remarkable, farsighted men: Sir David Rivett, Sir George Julius, and A. E. V. Richardson. A chemist, an engineer, and an agricultural researcher, they could not have been more different, but as the de facto triumvirate that controlled the council’s operations over its first two decades, they ensured that its meager resources were marshaled to attack Australia’s most pressing scientific problems. Much of Schedvin’s account deals with the specific research pro­ grams sponsored by the council. Not surprisingly, the first efforts were oriented toward biological problems, because Australia de­ pended so heavily on the export of wool, meat, grain, and fruit. The council’s small corps of entomologists and botanists attacked a seem­ ingly endless array of insects, diseases, deteriorating meat, and weeds, while forming links with universities and deftly avoiding treading on the toes of state agricultural departments. The physical science problems facing a large, underdeveloped country, such as aeronauti­ cal research and standards testing, received the best attention the organization could spare. World War II brought a quadrupling of staff and a rapid expansion of problems to solve. The radar research program takes pride of place in this story. The council’s activities were of fundamental importance for the infrastructure of Australian science and technology. In 1926, few scientific posts existed, and trained personnel were rare...