Abstract
‘GUNS not butter’ may have some merit as a war slogan but cannot be considered a good axiom for warfare. Without fats, with their high calorific value, there would not be the muscular energy to build more guns. In the strategical planning of modern wars the only sound precept is—guns and butter. Under conditions of emergency or unpre-paredness it may be necessary to concentrate upon gun-production and neglect butter-making. This state of affairs existed in Great Britain before and during the early phases of the War, and the urgency of the demand for guns, tanks and aeroplanes, with all their associated equipment, laid great stress on the part the physicist, chemist, metallurgist and engineer could play in development and research.
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BIOLOGISTS IN WAR-TIME. Nature 149, 227–229 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149227a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149227a0