Pasteur's quadrant : basic science and technological innovation
Donald E. Stokes (Author), Brookings Institution (Publisher)
"Is there a fundamental difference between basic and applied scientific research? Vannevar Bush, who led the American effort to make the atomic bomb, certainly thought so. Half a century ago he put his views forward in a report, Science, the Endless Frontier, that profoundly shaped the evolving compact between government and science, a compact that seemed to usher in a golden age. In this book, Donald Stokes, the longtime head of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, takes sharp issue with Bush's view. The relationship between government and the scientific community is today under severe stress, he says; it can be strengthened only when we understand what was wrong with Bush's view. Stokes begins with an analysis of the goals of "understanding" and "use" in scientific research. He cites the model of Louis Pasteur, who a century ago established the foundations of the science of microbiology ("understanding") by constantly pushing the limits of its application ("use"). over subsequent decades, technology has been increasingly science based. But simultaneously, science has become much more rooted in technology: discovery after discovery in "pure" science has been inspired by efforts to meet societal needs. Stokes also challenges Bush's "linear model" -the view that science is the dynamo that leads to technological innovation, showing how it is belied by much American experience, and also by contemporary Japanese practice. Through many examples, Stokes develops this revised interactive view of science and technology and argues convincingly that we must frame a new compact between science and government. His conclusions have major implications for the scientific, technological, and policy communities. They bear on the nation's security, health, and welfare, as well as on its ability to compete in the global marketplace" -- Dust jacket
Print Book, English, 1997
Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1997