The German Research Foundation 1920 - 1970 funding poised between science and politics

Similar to the German enterprise of science as a whole, the German Research Foundation (DFG) originally conceived as an "Emergency Association for German Science" (Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft) in 1920 for decades considered itself as the politically authorized agency for the promotion of a patriotically accentuated science. The authors delineate the course followed by this research foundation in the fields of science and technology, in the humanities and social sciences, medicine, and the biosciences. Initially this path was revisionistic, after 1933 racist and politically expansionistic, and finally, westernized and conservative. Additional surveys on the history of the foundation as an organization and interdisciplinary overviews by the editors raise the issues of the liberalization of German research and its extragovernmental funding during the 1960s. CONTENTS HISTORY, ISSUES, AND STRUCTURE OF THE ENTIRE PROJECT FOREWORD: THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND NATIONAL SOCIALISM I. OUTLINING THE PROBLEM “PRESERVE OF FULL PROFESSORS” –ON THE HISTORY OF THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION BETWEEN 1920 AND 1970 II. HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION FROM “EMERGENCY” TO “ALLIANCE” – RESEARCHING THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AS AN INSTITUTION “TOOL OF GERMAN WAR STRATEGY” – THE SCIENCE POLICY OF THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND THE REICH RESEARCH COUNCIL BETWEEN 1920 AND 1945 POISED BETWEEN SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS – THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION, THE KAISER WILHELM SOCIETY, AND THE ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE 1920–1972 FROM EMERGENCY ASSOCIATION TO SERVICE ORGANIZATION – GUIDELINES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1949–1973 THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AS A TOPIC IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE – A COMMENTARY III. NATURAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES THE SYNDROME OF FALLING BEHIND – RESOURCE CONSTELLATIONS AND EPISTEMIC ORIENTATIONS IN THE NATURAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES ON THE PATH TO TECHNICAL DESIGN – DFG-FUNDED RESEARCH IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 1920–1970 COMPUTERS FOR SCIENCE – SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE IN THE GERMAN SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM 1870–1970 THRIFT MATERIALS, DOMESTIC MATERIALS, AND SUBSTITUTES – METALS RESEARCH IN GERMANY 1920–1970 THE “FOUR-YEAR PLAN FOR CHEMISTRY” AND “POLYMER SCIENCE” – THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND CHEMICAL RESEARCH FROM THE 1920s INTO THE 1960s CIVILIAN MILITARY RESEARCH AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SCIENCE – A COMMENTARY NATURAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES – A COMMENTARY IV. HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND THE BIOSCIENCES INSTRUMENTAL MODERNITY AND THE DICTATE OF POLITICS – SPONSORSHIP OF MEDICAL RESEARCH BY THE EMERGENCY ASSOCIATION/GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970 FASTER, HIGHER, MIGHTIER – PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH SUPPORT BY THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970 THE PLANNABLE HUMAN –THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HEREDITY 1920–1970 FEVERISH RESEARCH? – GERMAN TROPICAL MEDICINE AS REFLECTED IN ITS FUNDING BY THE EMERGENCY ASSOCIATION/GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970 FRAGMENTATION, COOPERATION, INSTITUTIONALIZATION – GERMAN CANCER RESEARCH WITHIN THE FUNDING HORIZONS OF THE EMERGENCY ASSOCIATION/GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970 CLOSE TO THE STATE AND ORIENTED TOWARD THE FUNDAMENTALS – RESEARCH ON RADIATION AND RADIOACTIVITY IN THE BIOSCIENCES 1920–1970 ENZYMES, HORMONES, VITAMINS – BIOCATALYTIC RESEARCH FUNDED BY THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970 HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND THE BIOSCIENCES –A COMMENTARY V. THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES BORDER GUARD AND BORDER CROSSER OF SCIENCE – THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 1920–1970 THE WILL FOR RELEVANCY – STATE-SUPPORTED RESEARCH ON LINGUISTICS 1920–1970 SURVEYING GERMAN VOLKSKULTUR – THE “ATLAS OF GERMAN FOLKLORE” AND THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1928–1980 A MIDWIFE FOR SCIENCE – THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION AND GERMAN ETHNOLOGY TRANSMITTALS AND TRANSFORMATIONS – RESEARCH ON THE EUROPEAN EAST AND THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1945–1975 AGRARIAN SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND RURAL ORDER – GERMAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 1920–1960 VI. SCIENCE, SCIENCE POLICY, AND THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION SPONSORSHIP OF SCIENCE UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM – AN ALMOST EVERYDAY STORY? A COMMENTARY ON THE RESEARCH PROGRAM “THE GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION 1920–1970” “MR. DFG” WALTHER GERLACH (1889–1979) – PHYSICIST, SCIENCE FUNCTIONARY, AND PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVE THE RULES OF SCIENCE – SCIENCE UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE CONDITIONAL UPHEAVALS – THOUGHTS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS IN THE WEST GERMAN POSTWAR PERIOD THE GERMAN PROFESSOR IN THE THIRD REICH – FOUR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES INSTITUTIONAL ABBREVIATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST OF AUTHORS