The Launching of Modern American Science 1846–1876 by Robert V. Bruce

Abstract

136 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Unfortunately, though in the same category, it is not in the same class. Its major weakness is that it attempts to remedy the historical record, but ignores any larger historical context. One misses, for ex­ ample, a sense of what was an inheritance from the Progressive Era in the scientific activism of the 1930s. There is little exploration of the extent to which American radical scientists borrowed ideas from European socialism, or of connections to labor, artistic, or other pro­ gressive groups. The scientists Kuznick describes may have moved beyond the laboratory, but they rarely moved beyond the university. Ignoring the political activism of scientists like Robert A. Millikan, Karl Compton, and Frank B. Jewett in their efforts to link science and government might be defended because this is a history of sci­ entists on the Left. Absent mention of these efforts, however, the affiliation of prominent scientists like the Compton brothers with the AAScW misleadingly appears as evidence of the importance of that organization (p. 267), rather than what it was, one of many minor involvements which seemed consonant with their more important ac­ tivities and aims. Such uncritical confounding of major and minor factors occurs too often in this book. Kuznick writes with sympathy and deserved admiration for the scientific activists of the 1930s. It is good to set the record straight that scientists shared other intellectuals’ fascination with the Left in the 1930s. Beyond the Laboratory does this, but it lacks perspective. Kuznick infers from the mild scientific humanism of the AAAS, the widespread dislike among scientists of what was happening to col­ leagues under fascist rule, and the radical program of a very small group of scientists that “The prevailing norm within the scientific community had shifted to demand of scientists an ethic of social con­ cern and responsibility” (p. 257). Such exaggeration serves neither the author nor his subject well. Elizabeth Hodes I)r. Hodes received her Ph.I), in the history of' science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation was on the American Association of Sci­ entific Workers and the Federation of Atomic Scientists. She has coauthorccl several papers on the scientific community in America during the 1930s and teaches at Santa Barbara Citv College. The Launching of Modern American Science 1846—1876. By Robert V. Bruce. New York and Ithaca, N.Y.: Knopf and Cornell University Press, 1987/1988. Pp. x + 446; illustrations, notes, appendix, bibli­ ography, index. $30.00 (cloth); $12.95 (paper). The Launching ofModern American Science is a well-written, if slightly mistitled, work. Robert Bruce’s focus is really the launching of sci­ entific careerism, rather than science per se, during the mid-19th TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 137 century. This is an interesting subject area indeed and one intimately related to the development of scientific expectations in American so­ ciety. Bruce describes well the concomitant progress in the higher education, professionalization, and social status of scientists, especially engineers. Despite innovative shortcomings, American scientists were suited to meet the needs of a federal government committed to geo­ graphical exploration. As a result, this working relationship “launched” a powerful scientific establishment. The physical manifestation was the building of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. It is hard to imagine the tremendous growth of 19th-century Amer­ ican science without the financial motivation of the Smithson bequest, and this bequest, like biological evolution, the major scientific idea of the century, was British. The Civil War occurred before the revolu­ tionary thought of Charles Darwin was well known in the United States. As Americans set about mending the nation, many confronted Darwin’s writings on natural, artificial, and sexual selection for the first time. Bruce examines the effect of the Civil War on scientific education, individual career choices, and the growth of American technology. By contrast, the reception of Darwinism during Recon­ struction is left largely undiscussed. In addition, readers will have to seek elsewhere for a close analysis of the influence of Darwinism on shaping, or rather reshaping, the careers of American scientists who survived the war. Bruce is a gifted biographer, and the highly readable substance of this volume...