Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
36 - Epilogue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Taken by any measure that one might chose, the world of science was vastly different at the time of the Department's establishment from that of a century later. The number of scientists alive in 1904 was insignificant when compared with the number at the end of the century, and there was then still a strong amateur component that has all but vanished. Science is now a well-established, paid profession, one for which government policy is a matter of abiding concern. In 1902 government participation in science was restricted to those few matters for which it felt a direct need: navigation, geological surveys, industrial standards, and agriculture. Pure research was outside the national interest, at least insofar as monetary support was concerned. Given the complete transformation that science has undergone, it is remarkable that the Department has functioned so well as the environment for its operations altered so drastically. It is worth while to trace the important decisions that have shaped DTM's history.
It was Louis Bauer's determination and energy that caused the Department to be established. Without his drive there is little probability that anyone else with authority would have set about mapping in detail the magnetic field of the Earth as a goal requiring a substantial fraction of the Institution's funds. But Bauer's case for a non-governmental agency to coordinate this activity found support from President Woodward and the physics community.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington , pp. 267 - 274Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005