Documenting Post-War Activist Science

记录战后活动科学

• 批准号: 0001690
• 负责人: Bruce Lewenstein
• 金额: $ 0.47万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-02-15 至 2001-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0001690&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Documenting; Post; War; Activist; Science

This Small Grants for Exploratory Research funding will fund a small conference of scholars and archivists to explore the feasability of creating an in-line archives in the area of activist and public interest science. From the late 1940s through the l970s, a significant element of the American scientific community found itself in a complex relationship with major national institutions. On the one hand, Federal funds were flowing freely, spurred by "national security state" concerns about the cold war. This largesse expanded the government's research laboratory system and greatly affected the size, scope, and character of science carried out in university and industry settings. On the other hand, many scientists personally objected to certain elements of national policy, both on moral grounds and on technical scientific grounds. Some of these scientists organized their dissent through public interest and activist groups that argued for scientific and political alternatives. Exploring complexities and tensions among these diverse institutional relationshipsin science is crucial to better understand the interactions of scientific knowledge and social context in post-World War II America. The impact of Cold War policies upon the scientific community and scientific knowledge within more traditional institutions has become a robust area of research. However, relatively few studies exist on the relationships between activist and public interest science and the more mainstream scientific community and institutions. A number of scholars have begun exploring the history and sociology of activist science and scientists and their effect on public and political understandings of scientific knowledge (most explicitly, Moore 1995; but also Kuznick 1991; Lewenstein 1999; Nye 1999; Wang 1999). Informal discussions among some scholars have identified a pressing historical need: to locate and, if necessary, preserve existing archival resources of the post-war period related to activist and public interest science. This effort might also include collecting oral histories of prominent scientists active in political issues during the post-war period. While some materials exist, and many interviews have been conducted, they are often scattered, unknown, or not publicly available. Moreover, as the scientists of the postwar generation reach the ends of their lives, their papers are being dispersed and sometimes lost. An urgent project must be undertaken to identify these resources and preserve them. Funding for this project will allow for a small planning meeting in Washington D.C. in conjunction with the February 2000 AAAAS Meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to explore systematically whether a more thorough project is worth developing.

探索性研究的小额赠款将资助一个由学者和档案管理员参加的小型会议，以探索在活动家和公共利益科学领域创建在线档案的可行性。从20世纪40年代末到70年代，美国科学界的一个重要组成部分发现自己与主要的国家机构有着复杂的关系。一方面，联邦资金在“国家安全国家”对冷战的担忧的刺激下自由流动。这种慷慨扩大了政府的研究实验室系统，并极大地影响了大学和工业环境中进行的科学的规模，范围和性质。另一方面，许多科学家个人反对国家政策的某些内容，既有道德理由，也有技术科学理由。其中一些科学家通过公共利益和活动家团体组织他们的异议，主张科学和政治替代方案。探索这些不同的制度关系在科学中的复杂性和紧张关系是至关重要的，以更好地理解科学知识和社会背景在二战后的美国的相互作用。冷战政策对科学界和传统机构内的科学知识的影响已成为一个强有力的研究领域。然而，相对较少的研究活动家和公众利益的科学和更主流的科学界和机构之间的关系。许多学者已经开始探索活动家科学和科学家的历史和社会学，以及他们对公众和政治理解科学知识的影响（最明确的是，摩尔1995;还有Kuznick 1991; Lewenstein 1999; Nye 1999; Wang 1999）。一些学者的非正式讨论确定了一个紧迫的历史需要：找到并在必要时保存战后时期与活动家和公共利益科学有关的现有档案资源。这项工作还可能包括收集战后时期活跃在政治问题上的著名科学家的口述历史。虽然存在一些材料，也进行了许多访谈，但这些材料往往是分散的、不为人知的或不公开的。此外，随着战后一代的科学家们走到生命的尽头，他们的论文正在被分散，有时甚至会丢失。必须开展一个紧急项目，查明这些资源并加以保护。 为这一项目提供的资金将允许在华盛顿特区举行一次小型规划会议，与2000年2月美国科学促进会会议同时举行。 会议的目的是系统地探讨是否值得制定一个更彻底的项目。