The Politics of Pure Science

The author covers this subject for Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. By politics he means the people, institutions and processes that determine the character and circumstances of research (here confined to basic research ) - and what is done with the results. He concentrates on administrative and financial aspects: the meritocratic anarchy or organization, the peer system for awarding funds and judging work. These subjects are developed from two interrelated points of view. The warborn partnership of science and government is described, from science's difficulties before the alliance, through twenty-five years of wealth, freedom, and unparalleled government solicitude, to 1967 and LBJ, who has tightened financial reins. This brings Greenberg to questions of value - the ideology that all unanswered scientific questions (are) equal, the less-than-self-evident debt of technology to basic research, the need to solve practical problems in a miserable world - and on the other hand to the unquestionable contributions of pure science and the dangers of layman control. At the end Greenberg deals briefly with ethical issues: scientifically unproductive chiseling projects, over-purchasing, over-publishing, etc. The book is extremely well-written and full of benign gossip (the Mohole fiasco, but not the Oppenheimer affair). It should appeal to a sizeable range of readers. (Kirkus Reviews)