A Minor Miracle. An Informal History of the National Science Foundation by Milton LomaskReview by: Daniel P. JonesIsis, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Mar., 1978), pp. 151-152Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/230674 .

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 69: 1 : 246 (1978) 151

It is impossible in a brief review to do justice to the richness of these volumes. Vol- ume I covers the legal, institutional, and administrative history of the MRC. It is espe- cially good on the reorganization of 1918-1920, in which Fletcher, Arthur Bal- four, and others adroitly managed to put the MRC under the Privy Council rather than the Ministry of Health, thus ensuring its vir- tual independence from particular "mis- sions" of government bureaucracies. Thom- son's account of the administrative structure and policies of the MRC, and the remarkable way in which Fletcher and his successors mediated between professional scientists and public purposes will greatly interest anyone concerned with the evolution of large-scale, managed, public science. Issues discussed in- clude the balance between internal (labora- tory) and external (grant) programs; between basic research and application; individual grants and larger group programs; and the development of the Research Unit, an institu- tional innovation pioneered by the MRC.

Volume II is an account of the varied fields to which the MRC gave support. They in- clude chemical and biological therapeutics, nutrition, environmental medicine, infectious diseases and public health, the basic biomedi- cal sciences, industrial and tropical medicine, testing of drugs and medicinals, and biologi- cal standards. Separate chapters cover the important work of the MRC in the two world wars. The disadvantages of having to touch all bases are most evident in this volume. The vast scope and diversity of MRC programs leave Thomson no alternative to somewhat cursory and uncritical accounts of some fields. It might have been better to go into greater detail in a selected few. Thomson's strength is in the political and administrative history of each program, and most of his chapters focus on organizational rather than technical matters. For example, his account of the continuing imbroglio with the Colonial Office over the development of tropical medi- cine is fascinating. The least successful chap- ter is the one on the basic medical sciences, where Thomson tends to lapse into a marvels- of-science vein and to overlook the policy and organizational issues.

A number of general characteristics of MRC style begin to emerge from Thomson's survey. Most striking is the constant con- cern with the "demonstration" aspect of science: the linkage between discovery and application. Insulin was isolated by Canadi- ans, but its clinical use in Britain was super-

vised and regulated by the MRC. The sulfa drugs were discovered by Germans, but they were brought into clinical use by Leonard Colebrook in an MRC research unit. Perhaps owing to the weakness of industrial research in Britain, the MRC played the role of facili- tating the industrial production and control of medicinals. In the United States there was a sharper division between the roles played by foundations, industry, and government in research, demonstration, and development. Nutrition was perhaps the most successful large scientific program of the MRC, and it was continually involved with public health work on diet and fitness. Other historians reading Thomson's work will doubtless find other equally enticing themes for future work on the social organization of modern science.

Finally, I should like to call attention to the existence of the MRC archives, which are housed at the headquarters at 20 Park Cres- cent in London. Despite a partial house- clearing, which was made in the 1950s and left heart-breaking gaps in the record, the MRC archives remain one of the richest and least used archival sources on the history of modern science. Although they are still offi- cially treated as records rather than archives, they are open on a limited basis to qualified scholars, up to 1947 (the thirty-year rule ap- plies.) Thomson's fine volumes are an essen- tial guide to this extraordinary historical re- source.

ROBERT E. KOHLER

Department of History and Sociology of Science

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19174

Milton Lomask. A Minor Miracle. An Infor- mal History of the National Science Founda- tion. x + 286 pp., index. Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1976. $2.75 (paper). Order from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

In his "informal history" Milton Lomask has produced an uneven chronicle of the first twenty-five years of the National Science Foundation. This commissioned history was intended to convey the flavor of the institu- tion to the general reader, and accordingly it is a blend of historical data and recollections of selected events and personalities in the

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152 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 69: 1 : 246 (1978)

foundation's history. Nevertheless, historians of science can profit from Lomask's account of episodes in the origin and growth of NSF based upon his interpretation of office files, reports, and interviews of key participants.

The book opens with an inappropriate chapter devoted to five major areas of re- search conducted during twenty-five years with the aid of NSF funds. Questions the reader might have concerning any active role played by the NSF staff in specifically pro- moting these fast-developing fields remain unanswered, however, as Lomask at his first opportunity avoids the important topics of grant policy and peer review. Subsequent chapters deal with the long legislative history that preceded the National Science Founda- tion Act of 1950, and here the author suc- ceeds in his analysis of the conflicting ideas of scientists, engineers, congressmen, and the executive branch on the desired nature of the institution. Lomask broadly characterizes the work of the first four directors-Alan Water- man, Leland Haworth, William D. McElroy, and H. Guyford Stever-and describes their personalities and differences in approach to difficult problems. During his twelve years as director, Waterman avoided the responsibil- ity for developing national science policy or for evaluating and correlating research activi- ties of other federal agencies, although these functions were part of his mission as stated in the NSF charter. Lomask makes use of recent interviews to conclude that Waterman's deci- sion to concentrate the effort of the founda- tion on the promotion of fundamental re- search and training in the sciences was a wise one.

From 1950 to 1968 the educational and institutional programs of NSF made a signifi- cant impact on the teaching of science in the United States. Unfortunately, Lomask de- votes too little space to an assessment of these programs and to the changes they produced in educational institutions. In 1968 NSF re- ceived a new charter which permitted support of applied research. The Research Applied to National Needs (RANN) program which grew out of this change provides an interest- ing episode in which to raise the related issues of whether NSF should respond to the needs and desires of the federal government or to those of the scientific community and whether it should assume an active role in promoting research which addresses prob- lems in society. While Lomask adequately treats these issues throughout, his failure to address other themes essential to a history of

the National Science Foundation, such as its impact on science and education during twenty-five years, limits the usefulness of this book. Nonetheless, Lomask has blended re- collections of past events with recorded evi- dence to construct an "informal history" which is absorbing reading. Interviews can preserve much that would otherwise be lost, and herein lies the value of this book to histo- rians.

DANIEL P. JONES

General Science Department Oregon State University

Corvallis, Oregon 97331

Joseph Meites; Bernard T. Donovan; Samuel M. McCann (Editors). Pioneers in Neuroen- docrinology. vii + 327 pp., illus., index. New York/ London: Plenum Press, 1975. $22.50.

Joseph Meites, Bernard T. Donovan, and Samuel M. McCann, the editors of Pioneers in Neuroendocrinology, have put together an interesting and informative collection of es- says. Their authors, whose birth dates range from 1896 to 1917,

... were requested to write a personal, and even idiosyncratic, account of the steps taken, and the motivations and drive that led them to develop their inter- est in the relationship between the brain and the endocrine system. They were asked to provide information on the source of their inspiration, encourage- ment, and financial support, and to indi- cate where their achievements, rewards, and disappointments lay; also to convey something of the flavor, atmosphere, and climate of opinion at the time they did their work.

With this in mind the book is a success. There are twenty-one chapters written by Claude Aron, Philip Bard, Wolfgang Bargmann, J. Benoit, Chandler McC. Brooks, Edward Dempsey, John Everett, Hans Heller, Joseph C. Hinsey, Hudson Hoagland, Walter Hohl- weg, Walter R. Ingram, Dora Jacobsohn, Mary Pickford, Dorothy Price, Charles Saw- yer, Berta Scharrer, M. C. Shelesnyak, F. S. Stutinsky, Janos Szent'agothai, and Marte Vogt. A subsequent book is suggested for the "younger and still very active researchers in neuroendocrinology." Included with each se-

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