20 



education, becoming part of the informal means of dealing with the 

 scientific personnel problem. 



For science, especially science in the universities, one of the 

 main consequences of World War II was that it made research and 

 development big business. It also bound this R&D — done at both in- 

 dustrial labs and universities — to the Federal Government. It es- 

 tablished a wartime pattern of centrally administered research. 



The research and development undertaken during World War II 

 led to many new technologies that played a fundamental role in 

 the outcome of the war. The most significant contributions includ- 

 ed the atomic bomb, proximity fuse, computer, jet plane, penicillin, 

 and DDT. The success and importance of these developments con- 

 vinced political, military, and scientific leaders of the value of a 

 continuing military research program. Indeed, the link between 

 new technologies and military strength became so strong that the 

 Federal Government could no longer leave science to its own de- 

 vices. 



Military Research 



Spurred largely by the wartime successes of the OSRD and the 

 arguments of senior scientific spokesmen like Bush, U.S. military 

 and political leaders came to adopt the view that if the United 

 States wanted to maintain its technological military superiority, 

 then substantial investments in basic research were required. Mili- 

 tary planners became committed to keeping and building up their 

 scientific research programs after the war. Each branch of the 

 armed services sought to maintain some sort of scientific research 

 and development capability. The Navy, for example, began plan- 

 ning during this period for the eventual creation of the Office of 

 Naval Research. Despite its ultimate concern with applications and 

 development, the military took the lead during the postwar era in 

 supporting basic research on an unprecedented scale. There was 

 little controversy over whether the military should fund such re- 

 search. The debate centered on whether military research would 

 remain under civilian control, as it had been with the OSRD, or 

 would revert entirely to control by the armed services. 



The question of total military control of scientific secrecy and se- 

 curity after the war also concerned science policymakers. It was 

 not so much a problem for the classified and applied research con- 

 ducted within the Government laboratories as it was for military- 

 supported research performed by scientists on university faculties. 



Meeting Postwar Scientific Personnel Needs 



During the war, university graduate education was virtually sus- 

 pended almost everywhere in the world. The resulting shortage of 

 new scientific personnel thus became a major concern for the 

 makers of postwar science policy. From the Government's perspec- 

 tive, this scientific personnel shortage was seen as both a military 

 and civilian problem. 11 Great attention was therefore paid to the 



1 ! One unusual method proposed to meet this need was Project Paperclip, a successful effort 

 to bring German scientists and technicians to the United States after World War II. The pur- 

 Continued 



