Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don't Know about the Ocean

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Naomi Oreskes

Science on a Mission

How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don't Know about the Ocean

Naomi Oreskes

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English

University of Chicago Press
19 April 2021

History of the Americas; Military history; Mathematics & Sciences; History of science; Oceanography (seas)

What difference does it make who pays for science?

Some might say none. If scientists seek to discover fundamental truths about the world, and they do so in an objective manner using well-established methods, then how could it matter who’s footing the bill? History, however, suggests otherwise. In science, as elsewhere, money is power. Tracing the recent history of oceanography, Naomi Oreskes discloses dramatic changes in American ocean science since the Cold War, uncovering how and why it changed. Much of it has to do with who pays.

After World War II, the US military turned to a new, uncharted theater of warfare: the deep sea. The earth sciences—particularly physical oceanography and marine geophysics—became essential to the US Navy, who poured unprecedented money and logistical support into their study. Science on a Mission brings to light how this influx of military funding was both enabling and constricting: it resulted in the creation of important domains of knowledge but also significant, lasting, and consequential domains of ignorance.

As Oreskes delves into the role of patronage in the history of science, what emerges is a vivid portrait of how naval oversight transformed what we know about the sea. It is a detailed, sweeping history that illuminates the ways funding shapes the subject, scope, and tenor of scientific work, and it raises profound questions about the purpose and character of American science. What difference does it make who pays? The short answer is: a lot.

By: Naomi Oreskes
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780226732381
ISBN 10: 022673238X
Pages: 744
Publication Date: 19 April 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science at Harvard University. She is the author of many books, including Merchants of Doubt and, most recently, Why Trust Science?

Reviews for Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don't Know about the Ocean

This book shows why oceanography may be the vital science whose history we need to understand if we want a picture of the evolving relationships between science and the American state over the last century. With her characteristic but rare combination of philosophical and historical insight, and her sharp eye for the politics beneath the surface, Oreskes has skillfully interpreted the wide-ranging legacies of oceanography, and brought them into our understanding of scientific--and political--debates of the present day. --Katharine Anderson, York University