William J. Hale and the Farm Chemurgic Movement

从19世纪开始，农民们转向科学，试图解决他们的许多更棘手的问题。赖特博士正在研究美国化学家帮助农民摆脱20世纪30年代S大萧条的影响的努力之一。以陶氏化学公司的威廉·J·黑尔为首的这些“化学家”(一个将希腊语中Work的词根与“化学”结合在一起的术语)声称，“经济复苏将在实验室中实现。而不是立法机构，或者，更直截了当地说，化学的内部发展决定了技术和经济政策。在强大的化学基金会的支持下，化学家们在技术文献和政治舞台上宣传他们的想法，作为新政农业援助努力的替代方案。作为他们的中心示范项目，化学家们在20世纪30年代末生产和销售电力酒精(或“农用酒精”)，S引发了政治和化学争议。在他的书房里，赖特博士将研究四个问题：1.黑尔认为他在化学研究与国家农业政策的关系上发现了什么，导致他放弃了非常成功的化学家和研究管理人员的职业生涯，转而成为一名化学传教士？2.化学应该被认为是一个成功的应用研究项目吗？3.为什么鉴于酒精燃料的简单化学结构，对于它们在技术和经济上的充分性，专家们有如此旷日持久的分歧吗？4.化学作为一场政治运动是否成功？在回答这些问题时，赖特博士将考察化学家和他们的对手如何构建叙事性的科学史，以证明或批评化学的研究和政治主张。这项研究承诺加强我们对科学在20世纪农业中的作用的理解，以及更广泛地说，对应用研究所固有的社会和政治影响的理解。

From the 19th century on, farmers have turned to science to try to resolve many of their more intractable problems. Dr. Wright is examining one of the efforts on the part of chemists in the United States to help extricate farmers from the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930's. These "Chemurgists" (a term combining the Greek root for work with "chemistry"), led by Dow Chemical's William J. Hale, claimed that "economic recovery would be achieved in the laboratory, not the legislature," or, put more starkly, that internal developments in chemistry dictated technological and economic policy. Backed by the powerful Chemical Foundation, the Chemurgists promoted their ideas in the technical literature and in the political arena as an alternative to the New Deal's efforts at agricultural assistance. As their central demonstration project, the Chemurgists produced and marketed power alcohol (or "agrol") in the late 1930's setting off political and chemical controversies. In his study, Dr. Wright will examine four questions: 1. What did Hale believe he discovered about the relation of chemical research to national agricultural policy that caused him to abandon a highly successful career as a chemist and research administrator to become a Chemurgic proselytizer? 2. Should Chemurgy be considered a successful applied research program? 3. Why was there such protracted expert disagreement over the technical and economic adequacy of Chemurgy's alcohol fuels given their simple chemical structure? 4. Was Chemurgy successful as a political movement? In addressing these questions, Dr. Wright will examine the ways both Chemurgists and their antagonists constructed narrative histories of science to justify or criticize Chemurgy's research and political claims. This study promises to enhance our understanding of the role of science in agriculture in the 20th century and, more generally, the social and political implications inherent in applied research.