Abstract
THE widespread utilization of science in both offensive and defensive warfare has brought into fresh prominence the old question whether science is a curse or a blessing. Such a discussion cannot even in these times be dismissed as purely academic. Behind many of the problems with which we are concerned in the war effort, such as food production and factory welfare, lies the major question confronting Western society to-day, that of harnessing science to human welfare. The misuse of discoveries and inventions must not be allowed to obscure their beneficent effects. As Prof. J. C. Philip pointed out in his recent presidential address to the Society of Chemical Industry, inventions, materials and machines are not in themselves good or evil; the character of the part they play in the human drama is determined by man himself, and the tragedy is due to human weakness and failure.
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The Challenge of Science. Nature 146, 175–177 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146175a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146175a0