Abstract
THE twenty-five anonymous authors of the Penguin Special “Science in War” (see NATURE, July 27, p. 112) succeeded not only in presenting a review of a few of the many services rendered by scientific men in the present conflict, but also in leaving the impression of vast potential forces insufficiently co-ordinated or inadequately marshalled. Certainly many men of science in Great Britain feel that more direct use might be made of their special knowledge. It may be, as Dr. C. H. Desch has said, that “advisory committees of independent scientific men are appointed by many Government departments, but they rarely have the power to discuss policy, and still less often to make decisions, so that their work is liable to fail of its effect or to be subject to an unnecessary time-lag”. On the other hand, there has been a growing realization that part of the blame rests with scientific men themselves, for many have shown lack of appreciation of, even a laek of interest in, the social consequences of their own work, so that it is left to the administrator to formulate plans and make practical applications of scientific discoveries or to set right dislocations of a slowly evolving social structure which a too rapid succession of discoveries inevitably causes. During the meetings of the Eighth American Scientific Congress held in Washington, D.C., during May 10—18 last, several papers on the conservation of natural resources and allied topics were discussed, and the following resolution was passed:
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A World Planning Commission. Nature 147, 35–36 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147035a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147035a0