Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-09T00:28:41.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - A New Order and the New Universe It Produced

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2013

Martin Harwit
Martin Harwit
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

July 5, 1945 marked a break in the way science and engineering were to be conducted in the United States in the postwar era. The government would take a leading role in the transition. The future was to belong to scientists and engineers working as teams partly dedicated to basic research, but more importantly working for the benefit of the nation, its security needs, its ability to feed its people, and the health of its children. This chapter recounts in some depth how and why the new program came to be initiated and adopted.

In the new arrangement, the future of astrophysics was nowhere mentioned, but time would show astronomy's emphasis on surveys and surveillance to be most closely aligned with military priorities. It took less than three decades to show that the alliance between the military and astronomers was leading to formidable advances no astronomer had anticipated. Soon other nations began to emulate the U.S. lead, and astronomy started advancing at a dizzying pace.

The contrast with astronomy before World War II could not have been greater.

Support for Basic Research in the Prewar Years

When Niels Bohr, during an impromptu visit from the young George Gamow late in the summer of 1928, assured him a year's Carlsberg Fellowship at the Royal Danish Foundation starting the next day, no senior physicist would have been surprised. When Bohr and Ernest Rutherford, the following year, asked the Rockefeller Foundation to provide Gamow a fellowship so he could work with Rutherford at Cambridge University, this too would have been expected.

Type
Chapter
Information
In Search of the True Universe
The Tools, Shaping, and Cost of Cosmological Thought
 , pp. 121 - 156
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. The Physicists – The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America, Daniel J., Kevles. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
2. Endless Frontier – Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century, G. Pascal, Zachary. New York: The Free Press, 1997.Google Scholar
3. The New Politics of Science, David, Dickson. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.Google Scholar
4. Ibid., The Physicists, Kevles, pp. 191–98.
5. http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/index.html
6. A 100-Inch Mirror for the Solar Observatory, George E., Hale, Astrophysical Journal, 24, 214–18, 1906.
7. Ibid., The Physicists, Kevles, p. 285.
8. Ibid., The Physicists, Kevles, p. 148.
9. Ibid., The Physicists, pp. 190–99 and 268.
10. Ibid., The Physicists, Kevles p. 297.
11. The General of Physics, Peter, Dizikes, (MIT) Technology Review, May/June 2011, M20–M23.Google Scholar
12. Science – The Endless Frontier, Vannevar, Bush. Reprinted by the National Science Foundation on its 40th Anniversary 1950–1990, National Science Foundation, 1990.Google Scholar
13. Ibid., Science – The Endless Frontier, Bush, 1990 reprint.
14. The Post-War Society: Responding to New Patterns of Patronage, David H., DeVorkin, in The American Astronomical Society's First Century, ed. David H., DeVorkin, American Astronomical Society and American Institute of Physics, 1999, pp. 109 & 111.Google Scholar
15. Ibid., Science – The Endless Frontier, Daniel J., Kevles, 1990 reprint, pp. ix–xxxiii.Google Scholar
16. Science Indicators 1982, National Science Board, 1983, Figure 2–14, Federal R&D budget authority for national defense, p. 52; and Appendix Table 5–13: Federal obligations for R&D to university and college performers for selected agencies: 1967–83, p. 308.
17. Ibid., Science – the Endless Frontier, Kevles, pp. xvii–xix.
18. The Effects of Defence Science on the Advance of Astronomy, Bernard, Lovell Sir, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 8, p. 168, 1977.Google Scholar
19. Ibid., The Effects of Defence Science, Lovell, pp. 151–73.
20. Ibid., The Effects of Defence Science, Lovell p. 167.
21. Astronomy Transformed – The Emergence of Radio Astronomy in Britain, David O., Edge & Michael J., Mulkay. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976.Google Scholar
22. The Sociology of Innovation in Modern Astronomy, David, Edge, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 18, pp. 334–35, 1977.
23. Glimpsing an Invisible Universe – The Emergence of X-Ray Astronomy, Richard E., Hirsh. Cambridge University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
24. Infrared Sky Surveys, Stephan D., Price, Space Science Reviews, 142, 233–321, 2009.
25. Electrical Disturbances Apparently of Extraterrestrial Origin, Karl G., Jansky, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 21, 1387–98, 1933.
26. On the Origin ofInterstellar Radio Disturbances, F. L., Whipple & J. L., Greenstein, Publications of the National Academy of Sciences, 23, 177–81, 1937.
27. Solar Radiations in the 4–6 Meter Radio Wavelength Band, J. S., Hey, Nature, 157, 47–48, 1946.
28. Microwave Radiation from the Sun, G. C., Southworth, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 239, 285–97, 1945.
29. Cosmic Static, Grote, Reber, Astrophysical Journal, 100, 279–87, 1944.
30. Ibid., Astronomy Transformed, Edge & Mulkay.
31. Fluctuations in Cosmic Radiation at Radio Frequencies, J. S., Hey, S. J., Parsons, & J. W., Phillips, Nature, 158, 234, 1946.
32. An Accurate Determination of the Positions of Four Radio Stars, F. G., Smith, Nature, 168, 555, 1951.
33. Identification of Radio Sources in Cassiopeia, Cygnus, A, and Puppis, A, W., Baade & R., Minkowski, Astrophysical Journal, 119, 206–14, 1954.
34. Investigations of the Radio Source 3C 273 by the Method of Lunar Occultations, C., Hazard, M. B., Mackey, & A. J., Shimmins, Nature, 197, 1037–39, 1963.
35. 3C 273: A Star-like Object with Large Red-Shift, M., Schmidt, Nature, 197, 1040, 1963.
36. A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s, A. A., Penzias & R. W., Wilson, Astrophysical Journal, 75, 419–21, 1965.
37. Cosmic Black-body Radiation, R. H., Dicke, P. J. E., Peebles, P. G., Roll, & D. T., Wilkinson, Astrophysical Journal, 142, 414–19, 1965.
38. Evolution of the Universe, Ralph A., Alpher & Robert, Herman, Nature, 162, 774–75, 1948.
39. Remarks on the Evolution of the Expanding Universe, Ralph A., Alpher & Robert C., Herman, Physical Review, 75, 1089–1095, 1949, specifically see p. 1093.
40. Observations of a Strong Unidentified Microwave Line and of Emission from the OH Molecule, H., Weaver, D. R. W., Williams, N. H., Dieter, and W. T., Lum, Nature, 208, 29–31, 1965.
41. Observations of Polarized OH Emission, S., Weinreb, et al., Nature, 208, 440–41, 1965.
42. Measurements of OH Emission Sources with an Interferometer of High Resolution, R. D., Davies, et al., Nature, 213, 1109–10, 1967.
43. Observations of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source, A., Hewish, et al., Nature, 217, 709–13, 1968.
44. Discovery of a Pulsar in a Binary System, R. A., Hulse & J. H., Taylor, Astrophysical Journal, 195, L51–L53, 1975.
45. Observations of Post-Newtonian Timing Effects in the Binary Pulsar PSR 1913+16, J. M., Weisberg & J. H., Taylor, Physical Review Letters, 15, 1348–1350, 1948.
46. Quasars: Millisecond-of-Arc Structure Revealed by Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry, C. A., Knight, et al., Science, 172, 52–54, 1971.
47. A telephone conversation between Irwin Shapiro and Martin Harwit, July 19, 1979.
48. On the Origin of the Cosmic Radiation, Enrico, Fermi, Physical Review, 75, 1169–74, 1949.
49. Further Measurements ofMagnetic Fields in Interstellar Clouds of Neutral Hydrogen, G. L., Verschuur, Nature, 223, 140–42, 1969.
50. Pulsar Rotation and Dispersion Measures and the Galactic Magnetic Field, R. N., Manchester, Astrophysical Journal, 172, 43–52, 1972.
51. Soft X-Radiation in the Upper Atmosphere, T. R., Burnight, Physical Review, 76, 165, 1949.
52. Observations at High Altitudes of Extreme Ultraviolet and X-Rays from the Sun, J. D., Purcell, R., Tousey, & K., Watanabe, Physical Review, 76, 165–66, 1949.
53. Photon Counter Measurements of Solar X-Rays and Extreme Ultraviolet Light, H., Friedman, S. W., Lichtman & E. T., Byram, Physical Review, 83, 1025–30, 1951.
54. Evidence for X-Rays from Sources Outside the Solar System, R., Giacconi, H., Gursky, F., Paolini, & B., Rossi, Physical Review Letters, 9, 439–43, 1962.
55. X-Ray Sources in the Galaxy, S., Bowyer, E., Byram, T., Chubb & H., Friedman, Nature, 201, 1307–08, 1964.
56. X-ray Spectra from Scorpius (SCO-XR-1) and the Sun, Observed from Above the Atmosphere, G., Chodil, et al., Physical Review Letters, 15, 605–07, 1965.
57. Cosmic X-ray Sources, Galactic and Extragalactic, E. T., Byram, T. A., Chubb, & H., Friedman, Science, 152, 66–71, 1966.
58. The Development of Lead Salt Detectors, D. J., Lovell, American Journal of Physics, 37, 467–78, 1969.
59. Ibid., The Effects of Defence Science, Lovell.
60. Infrared Sky Surveys, Stefan D., Price, Space Science Reviews, 142, 233–321, 2009.
61. An Infrared Stellar Spectrometer, G. P., Kuiper, W., Wilson, & R. J., Cashman, Astrophysical Journal, 106, 243–51, 1947.
62. Use of Lead Sulphide Cells in Infra-red Spectroscopy, G. B. B. M., Sutherland, D. E., Blackwell, & P. B., Fellgett, Nature, 158, 873–74, 1946.
63. An Exploration of Infra-Red Stellar Magnitudes Using the Photo-Conductivity of Lead Sulphide, P. B., Fellgett, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 111, 537–59, 1951.
64. Infrared Photometry of Galaxies, Harold L., Johnson, Astrophysical Journal, 143, 187–91, 1966.
65. Two-Micron Sky Survey, G. Neugebauer & R. B. Leighton, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASASP-3047, Washington, DC, 1969.
66. Observations of Infrared Galaxies, D. E., Kleinmann & F. J., Low, Astrophysical Journal, 159, L165–L72, 1970.
67. Observations of Extremely Cool Stars, G., Neugebauer, D. E., Martz, & R. B., Leighton, Astrophysical Journal, 142, L399–L401, 1965.
68. Ibid., Observations ofInfrared Galaxies, Kleinmann & Low.
69. Low-Temperature Germanium Bolometer, Frank J., Low, Journal of the Optical Society of America, 51, 1300–04, 1961.
70. Infrared Photometry of Extragalactic Sources, G. H., Rieke & F. J., Low, Astrophysical Journal, 176, L95–L100, 1972.
71. Letter from Ray W. Klebesadel to Martin Harwit, October 24, 1978. A large portion of this letter is reproduced in Cosmic Discovery – The Search, Scope & Heritage of Astronomy, Martin, Harwit, Basic Books, New York, 1981.Google Scholar
72. Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts of Cosmic Origin, Ray W., Klebesadel, Ian B., Strong, & Roy A., Olson, Astrophysical Journal, 182, L85–L88, 1973.
73. Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts, Bohdan, Paczyński, Acta Astronomica, 41, 257–67, 1991.
74. Black Holes & Time Warps – Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, Kip Thorne,. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.
75. Landmarks in Digital Computing, Washington, DC: Peggy A. Kidwell & Paul E. Ceruzzi, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
76. Cosmic Discovery – The Search, Scope & Heritage of Astronomy, Martin, Harwit. New York: Basic Books, 1981, chapter 2.Google Scholar
77. Ibid., Cosmic Discovery, Harwit, pp. 234–39.
78. Ibid., The Sociology of Innovation, Edge, pp. 326–39.
79. Military Procurement Authorization Act for FY 1970, Public Law 91–121, Section 203.
80. http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2000/nsb00215/nsb50/1970/mansfield.html
81. Renewing U. S. Mathematics Critical Resource for the Future, http://www.archive.org/stream/ Renewing_US_Mathematics_Critical_Resource_For_The_Future/TXT/00000128/txt._p._112
82. Ibid., Science – The Endless Frontier, Kevles, 1990 reprint, p. xxii.
83. Ibid., The New Politics of Science, Dickson, p. 125 ff.
84. The Making of a Soviet Scientist – My Adventures in Nuclear Fusion and Space from Stalin to Star Wars, Roald Z., Sagdeev. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994.Google Scholar
85. Ibid., The New Politics of Science, Dickson, pp. 143–53.
86. Ibid., Endless Frontier, Zachary, 1997.
87. Ballistic Missile defense and Infrared Technology, John A., Jamieson, Proceedings of the Infrared Instrumentation Society IRIS, 40 No. 1, 1995, pp.13–39.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×