Science and the State: From the Scientific Revolution to World War II (New Approaches to the History of Science and Medicine)

Was it coincidence that the modern state and modern science arose at the same time? This overview of the relations of science and state from the Scientific Revolution to World War II explores this issue, synthesising a range of approaches from history and political theory. John Gascoigne argues the case for an ongoing mutual dependence of the state and science in ways which have promoted the consolidation of both. Drawing on a wide body of scholarship, he shows how the changing functions of the state have brought a wider engagement with science, while the possibilities that science make available have increased the authority of the state along with its prowess in war. At the end of World War II, the alliance between science and state was securely established and, Gascoigne argues, is still firmly embodied in the post-war world. "Science, the state and their mutual dependence Modern science and the modern state emerged at much the same time in early modern Europe and both institutions were consolidated further in the centuries which followed - particularly so in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in response to the imperatives of industrialisation and war. Was this co-incidence? It is the argument of this book that it was not, that the growth of science and the state were linked and both drew on each other in establishing and augmenting their sway. To convey an overview of the major themes which such a survey of the relations between science and the state entails we begin by asking what, in broad, were some of the major ways in which the state and science interacted?"-- Provided by publisher "Engaging images accompany information about born survivors. The combination of high-interest subject matter and narrative text is intended for students in grades 3 through 8"-- Provided by publisher The First Historical Overview Of The Partnership Between Science And The State From The Scientific Revolution To World War Ii.