The National Labs: Science in an American System 1947-1974 - Hardcover

Westwick, Peter J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674009487 ISBN 13: 9780674009486

Verlag: Harvard University Press, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

Science in an American System, 1947-1974

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Críticas:

The National Labs is a fine addition to this extensive and sophisticated literature. It works best as a synthesis of previous arguments about the role of the weapons labs in recent American history and as a vehicle for understanding the relationship between American science and the modern federal establishment. Peter J. Westwick coins a new term, systemicity, as a unifying theme in this study, in the process emphasizing his contention that these facilities may only be understood as a diverse collection unified by a common goal and head but with significant centrifugal tendencies...The National Labs makes an important contribution to knowledge about the evolution of this set of research institutions between 1947, when the AEC began operation, and 1974, when the DOE took over responsibility for overseeing them...Westwick's synthesis is a valuable entree into how these scientific institutions both altered and reflected the values of the United States during the Cold War. -- Roger D. Launius Journal of American History The present book is a useful contribution to the ever growing literature on 'Big Science'. Based on extensive archival research at the U.S. National Archives and the individual national laboratories of the United States (Argonne, Brookhaven, Berkeley, Livermore, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge), the author sets out the early history of the national laboratory system in the United States describing the major programs and missions and the administrative choices and disputes in the period running from 1972-1962...In an effort to keep a lid on this diversity, the author maintains a steady eye on the overall structure of the system while covering individual programs such as the aforementioned highly bureaucratic reactor and particle accelerator programs in considerable detail. -- Peter Keating History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

Reseña del editor:

The national laboratories - Livermore, Berkeley, Los Alamos, Argonne, Oak Ridge and Brookhaven - have occupied a central place in the landscape of American science for more than 50 years. Responsible for the development of nuclear weapons, reactors, and other technologies that shaped American policy and culture in the Cold War, scientists from these labs also pursued physical and biomedical research that fundamentally changed our understanding of nature. But all of this has come at great cost, in terms of finance, facild<"@ities, and manpower, and has forced major adjustments in the framework of American science. Deeply researched and lucidly written, "The National Labs" is the first book to trace the confluence of diverse interests that created and sustained this extensive enterprise. Peter J. Westwick takes us from the origins of the labs in the Manhattan Project to their role in building the hydrogen bomb, nuclear power reactors, and high-energy accelerators, to their subsequent entry into such fields as computers, meterology, space science, molecular biology, environmental sciences and alternative energy sources. By showing us that the national laboratory system developed as a reflection of American ideals of competition and decentralization in the Cold War, Westwick also demonstrates how scientific institutions reflect the values of their surrounding political system and culture.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Harvard University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0674009487
• ISBN 13: 9780674009486
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416