Behind Quantum Electronics: National Security as Basis for Physical Research in The United States, 1940-1960

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 1987, Pages 149-229

  Forman, Paul ^a  

^a SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84968265169     PISSN: 08909997     EISSN: 15338355     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/27757599     Document Type: Article

References (135)

1. D. Dickson, The new politics of science (New York, 1984)
2. P. Stares, The militarization of space: U.S. policy, 1945-1984 (Ithaca, 1985).
3. E. Bloch, “Basic research and economic health: The coming challenge,” Science, 232 (2 May 1986), 595-599.
4. R.S. Norris et al., “History of the nuclear stockpile,” BAS, 41:7 (1985), 106-109.
5. M.B. Wallerstein, “Scientific communication and national security in 1984,” Science, 224 (1984), 460-466.
6. R.L. Park, “Intimidation leads to self-censorship in science,” BAS, 41:3 (1985), 22-25.
7. D.J. Kevles, “The remilitarization of American science: Historical reflections,” MS, 1987.
8. M.A. Tuve, “Basic research in private research institutes,” in D. Wolfle, ed., Symposium on basic research (Washington, D.C., 1959), 169-184.
9. H. Orlans, “Developments in Federal policy toward university research,” Science, 155 (1967), 665-668.
10. A.G. Trudeau, “Research for survival,” American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, 127:5 (1962), 20-39.
11. Useful bibliographical introductions are A. Roland, “Science and war,” Osiris, 1 (1985), 247-272.
12. “Technology and war: A bibliographic essay,” in M.R. Smith, ed., Military enterprise and technological change (Cambridge, 1985), 347-379.
13. P.K. Hoch, “The crystallization of a strategic alliance: American physics and the military in the 1940s”
14. D.J. Kevles, “R&D and the arms race: An analytical look”
15. S.S. Schweber, “The mutual embrace of science and the military: ONR and the growth of physics in the United States after World War II.”
16. D.J. de S. Price, eds., Science, technology and society (Beverly Hills, 1977), 443-471, 4.
17. C.A. Hogg et al., Masers and lasers (Cambridge, 1963), 118 -146, 178-79.
18. M.A. Tuve in ref. 2, “Technology and national research policy,” BAS, 9(1953), 290-293.
19. Norbert Wiener, “Science: The megabuck era,” New republic (27 Jan 1958), 10-11.
20. Wiener’s Collected works, 4 (Cambridge, 1985), 710-711.
21. D.J. Kevles, The physicists: The history of a scientific community in modern America (New York, 1978), 287-426, 457-464.
22. Hunter Dupree, Science in the Federal Government: A history…to 1940 (Cambridge, 1957), 373.
23. “The structure of the government-university partnership after World War II,” Bulletin of the history of medicine, 39 (1965), 249-251
24. The twentieth century sciences (New York, 1972), 443-467.
25. James L. Penick, Jr., et al., eds., The politics of American science, 1939 to the present (Cambridge, 1972), 435-443.
26. A historian’s view of advice to the President on science: Retrospect and prescription,” in W. Golden, ed., Science advice to the President (Oxford, 1980), 175-190.
27. Science in the Federal Government (Baltimore, 1986), vii-xviii.
28. D.J. Kevles, “Scientists, the military, and the control of postwar defense research: The case of the Research Board for National Security, 1944-46,” Technology and culture, 16 (1975), 20-47.
29. N.A. Komons, Science and the Air Force: A history of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Air Force Office of Aerospace Research, 1966), 1-7.
30. H.M. Sapolsky, The Polaris System development (Cambridge, 1972), 4.
31. M.S. Sherry, Preparing for the next war: American plans for postwar defense, 1941-45 (New Haven, 1977), 126.
32. C.R. Koppes, JPL and the American space program: A history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (New Haven, 1982), 25, 258.
33. Research and development (Washington, D.C., 1945), 1.
34. V. Bush, Science: The endless frontier. (Washington, D.C., 1945), 12, 27.
35. D.K. Allison, “U.S. Navy research and development since World War II,” in M.R. Smith, ed. (ref. 3), 289-328, on 290-291.
36. Kenneth M. Jones, Science, scientists, and Americans..., 1945-1950 (Ph.D. thesis, Cornell Univ., 1975; University Microfilms, 75-24202), 16-18.
37. Clarence G. Lasby, Project Paperclip (New York, 1971), 92-93.
38. John R. Steelman, Chairman, U.S. President’s Scientific Research Board, Science and public policy: A report to the President, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1947), i:3.
39. J.R. Killian, Jr., “M.I.T. redeploys for peace,” in J.E. Burchard, Q.E.D.: M.I.T. in World War II (Cambridge, 1948), 313-326.
40. F.L. Foster, “Sponsored research at M.I.T., 1900-1968,” Typescript, 1984.
41. S.L. Rearden, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, vol. 1: The formative years, 1947-1950 (Washington, D.C., 1984), 96-103.
42. U.S. Navy Department, Review of Navy R&D management, 1946-1973.
43. Prepared by Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc.” (Washington, D.C., 1976), 16-23.
44. E. Speakman, “Research and development for national defense,” IRE, Proceedings, 40 (1952), 772-775.
45. A.C. Cole et al, eds., The Department of Defense: Documents on establishment and organization, 1944-1978 (Washington, D.C., 1978), 47, 72-73, 96-97, 110-111, 138-139, 153.
46. T.H. Etzold and J.L. Gaddis, eds., Containment: Documents on American policy and strategy, 1945-1950 (New York, 1978).
47. N.A. Graeber, ed., The national security: Its theory and practice, 1945-1960 (Oxford, 1986).
48. S.F. Wells, Jr., “Sounding the tocsin: NSC 68 and the soviet threat,” International security, 4 (Fall, 1979), 116-158.
49. J.E. Pfeiffer, “The Office of Naval Research,” Scientific American, 181 (Feb 1949), 11-15.
50. R.G. Hewlett and F. Duncan, A history of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, vol. 2 Atomic shield, 1947-52 (University Park, 1969), 676-677.
51. Tenth semi-annual report (Washington, D.C., 1951), 52.
52. R.W. Seidel, “A home for big science: The Atomic Energy Commission’s laboratory system,” HSPS, 16:1 (1986), 135-176, on 151-156.
53. W. Millis, Arms and men (New York, 1956), 330.
54. P.B. Taylor, “Military research and development,” Aeronautical engineering review, 10 (Apr 1951), 49-51.
55. E.A. Walker, “Research and development: The nation’s balance sheet in June 1951,” Journal of engineering education, 42 (Nov 1951), 126-133.
56. K.L. Wildes and N.A. Lindgren, A century of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, 1882-1982 (Cambridge, 1985), 247.
57. S.W. Leslie and B. Hevly, “Steeple building at Stanford: Electrical engineering, physics, and microwave research,” IEEE, Proceedings, 73 (1985), 1169-1180.
58. M.W. Rossiter, “Science and public policy since World War II,” Osiris, 1 (1985), 273-284, on 274-276.
59. H.G. Vatter, The U.S. economy in the 1950s: An economic history (Westport, 1963), 67, 89, 102.
60. L. Griffin, J.A. Devine, and M. Wallace, “Monopoly capital, organized labor, and military expenditure in the US, 1949-1976,” in M. Buraway and T. Skocpol, eds., Marxist inquiries (Chicago, 1982), S113-S153.
61. Fortune, 46 (Sep 1952), 128-136.
62. C.W. Pursell, Jr., ed., The military-industrial complex (New York, 1972), 253-270.
63. J.M. Logsdon, “The space shuttle program: A policy failure?” Science, 232(1986), 1099-1105.
64. Daniel Yergin, Shattered peace: The origins of the Cold War and the national security state (Boston, 1977)
65. James D. Secrest, Electronic Industries Association: The first fifty years (Washington, D.C., 1974), 44, 49
66. W. B. Harris, “The electronic business,” Fortune, 55, Apr 1957, 136-143, 216-226.
67. J.M. Hund, “Electronics,” in Max Hall, ed., Made in New York: Case studies in metropolitan manufacturing (Cambridge, 1959), 241-326, 355-367.
68. A.E. Malito, Jr., “Characteristics of the electronics industry,” in J.E. Ullmann, ed., Potential civilian markets for the military-electronics industry (New York, 1970), 11-43.
69. Otto J. Scott, The creative ordeal: The story of Raytheon (New York, 1974), 205-250.
70. H.F. York and A.G. Greb, “Military research and development: A postwar history [to 1957],” BAS, 33:1 (1977), 13-26.
71. E.A. Kolodziej, The uncommon defense and Congress, 1945-1963 (Columbus, 1966), 180-252.
72. S.A. Pettingill, Electronic components: Production and related data, 1952-1959 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Business and Defense Administration, 1960), 18 pp.
73. W. Skinner and D.C.D. Rogers, Manufacturing policy in the electronics industry (Homewood, IL, 1968).
74. J.H. Rubel, “Trends and challenges in research and development,” in National Security Industrial Association, Proceedings of R&D Symposium..., 13-14 March 1963 (Washington, D.C., 1963), 9-35, on 12.
75. J.S. Duprè and S.A. Lakoff, Science and the nation: Policy and politics (Englewood Cliffs, 1962), 39.
76. F. Machlup, The production and distribution of knowledge in the United States (Princeton, 1962), 155.
77. Thackray, J.L. Sturchio, T.P. Carroll, and R. Budd, Chemistry in America, 1876-1976: Historical indicators (Dordrecht, 1985), 118, 120, 347.
78. R.D. Bennett, Technical Director, Naval Ordnance Laboratory, PT, 4:1 (1951), 4-5.
79. P.B. Taylor, Aeronautical engineering review, 10 (Apr 1951), 49.
80. D.M. Blank and G.J. Stigler, The demand and supply of scientific personnel (New York, 1957), 32.
81. J.J. Treires, The mobility of electronic technicians, 1940-52 (Washington, D.C., 1954), 6, 46, 59.
82. R.E. Burton and B.A. Green, Jr., “Technical reports in physics literature,” PT, 14:10 (1961), 35-37.
83. M. Herner and S. Herner, “The current status of the government research report in the United States of America,” UNESCO library bulletin, 13 (1959), 186-196.
84. L.J. Anthony et al., “The growth of the literature of physics,” reports on progress in physics, 32 (1969)
85. M.H. Smith, “Defense documents control progress,” Special libraries, 42 (1951), 216-217, 235.
86. C.P. Bourne, “The world’s technical journal literature,” American documentation, 13 (Apr 1962), 159-168.
87. Similarly, J.E. Hobson, “Men in research,” IRE, Proceedings, 36 (1948), 650-651.
88. M.J. Kelly, “The work and environment of the physicists: Yesterday, today, tomorrow,” PT, 10:4 (1957), 26-31.
89. David Caute, The great fear: The anticommunist purge under Truman and Eisenhower (New York, 1978), chapts. 13, 25.
90. Ellen W. Schrecker, No ivory tower: McCarthyism and the universities (Oxford, 1986)
91. J.T. Klapper and C.Y. Glock, “Trial by newspaper; being an account of the ordeal of Edward U. Condon,” Scientific American, 181 (Feb 1949), 16-21.
92. In an article entitled “The scientists,” Fortune, 38, 1948, 106-112, 166-176.
93. J. Merton England, A patron for pure science: The National Science Foundation’s formative years, 1945-57 (Washington, D.C., 1982), 127.
94. Charles V. Kidd, American universities and Federal research (Cambridge, 1959)
95. W. Bragg Ewald, Jr., Who killed Joe McCarthy? (New York, 1984)
96. E. Hodgins, “The strange state of American research,” Fortune, 51 (1955), 112-115, 214-224.
97. Fort Monmouth one year later,” BAS, 11:4 (1955), 146-150.
98. B.J. Bernstein, “In the matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” HSPS, 12:2, 195-252 (1982).
99. Richard Pfau, No sacrifice too great: The life of Lewis L. Strauss (Charlottesville, 1984), 145-181.
100. J.H. Van Vleck, “Two barrier phenomena,” PT, 6:6 (1953), 5-11.
101. L.V. Berkner, “University research and government support,” PT, 7:1 (1954), 10-17.
102. H.M. Sapolsky, “Academic science and the military [i.e., ONR]: The years since the Second World War,” in N. Reingold, ed., The sciences in the American context (Washington, D.C., 1979), 379-399.
103. A.T. Waterman and R.D. Conrad in “American Scholar Forum: Should the scientists resist military intrusion?” American scholar, 16 (1947), 213-225, 353-363, on 354-356.
104. E.R. Piore, “The electronic research sponsored by the Office of Naval Research,” IRE, Proceedings, 35 (1947), 1119-1121.
105. K.E. Spangenberg and W.E. Greene, “Basic research projects under ONR contracts,” Electronics, 22 (June, 1949), 66-69.
106. Waterman, “Government support of research,” Science, 111 (1949), 701-707.
107. D.E. Gray, “Basic research in the Office of Naval Research,” PT, 4:9 (1951), 17-19.
108. L.M. McKenzie, “After six years—A study of the impact of the Physics Branch Program,” Science, 118 (1953), 227-232.
109. Piore, “Some thoughts on Federal science,” PT, 7:7 (1954), 13-15.
110. Piore, “ONR research policy,” Naval research reviews, Apr 1954, 6-11.
111. Mina Rees, “The computing program of the Office of Naval Research, 1946-1953,” Annals of the history of computing, 4 (1982), 102-120.
112. J.L. Heilbron, R.W. Seidel, and B.R. Wheaton, Lawrence and his laboratory: Nuclear science at Berkeley, 1931-1961 (Berkeley, 1931)
113. R.W. Seidel, “The postwar political economy of high energy physics,” in Laurie Brown et al., eds., Elementary particle physics in the fifties (in press).
114. H.A. Zahl, Electrons away; or, Tales of a government scientist (New York, 1968), 96-98.
115. Cf.Major General H.S. Aurand, “The Army’s research program: Role of the Research and Development Division, War Department General Staff—organization for the future,” Mechanical engineering, 68 (1946), 785-786, 833.
116. S. Melman, Pentagon capitalism: The political economy of war (New York, 1970), 231-234, 51.
117. J.W. Barker, “Report of the president,” in Research Corporation, Annual report, 1951, 6-8.
118. J.E. Burchard, ed., Mid-century: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, 1950), 367-369.
119. P. Forman, “Atomichron®: The atomic clock from concept to commercial product,” IEEE, Proceedings, 73 (1985), 1181-1204.
120. David F. Noble, Forces of production: A social history of industrial automation (New York, 1984), 144-146, 325-326, 351-352.
121. K.C. Redmond and T.M. Smith, Project whirlwind (Bedford, 1980).
122. Allan A. Needell, “Nuclear reactors and the founding of Brookhaven National Laboratory,” HSPS, 14:1 (1983), 93-122.
123. Philip M. Morse, In at the beginnings: A physicist’s life (Cambridge, 1977), 217-218.
124. Arthur Roberts, “Take away your billion dollars,” PT, 1:11 (1948), 17-21.
125. A.H. Dupree, “A historian’s view” (ref. 7), 180-182.
126. N. Reingold, “Vannevar Bush’s new deal for research: or The triumph of the old order,” HSPS, 17:2 (1987), 299-344.
127. Spencer R. Weart, “The physics business in America, 1919-1940: A statistical reconnaissance,” in N. Reingold, ed., The sciences in the American context (Washington, D.C., 1979), 295-358, 311-313, 347-348.
128. Charles H. Schauer, “How firm a foundation?” PT, 3:10 (1950), 6-11.
129. Frank Cameron, Cottrell: Samaritan of science (Garden City, 1952).
130. M. Lomask, Minor miracle: An informal history of the National Science Foundation (Washington, D.C., 1976), 30-31.
131. F. Emerson Andrews, Philanthropic foundations (New York, 1956), 256-276.
132. L.A. DuBridge, “Science and national security,” California Institute of Technology, Bulletin, 58:3 (1949), 1-19, on 4.
133. L. Owens, “Vannevar Bush and the differential analyzer,” Technology and culture, 27 (1986), 63-95.
134. G.W. Corner, A history of the Rockefeller Institute, 1901-1953 (New York, 1964), 454-459.
135. P. Forman, J.L. Heilbron, and S. Weart, Physics circa 1900.