Monday, March 7, 2011

Vision of Science & War in 1930's


At the time, in the 1930s, the relationship between science and war was quite different from what it is today. Since then Science and Technology has made substantial impact in the field of wars. In the period around 1930’s, major advancement in technology of warfare has been seen.
Every nation has been involved in war at some time or other.As time passed all these nations have become more powerful and advanced.These days all nations have sophisticated weapons,advance defence mechanisms.
Wiener who coined the term cybernetics in 1947 to designate what he hoped would be a new science of control mechanisms in which the exchange of information would play a central role. The vision of science for war in the early 1900's was cybernetic. With the help of feedback loops, efficient control and communication was achieved which was a key point in a warfare. The battlefields were mechanized. Enemies were viewed as cybernetic entities and a man-machine.
At the time of WWII, on proposal of Vannevar Bush, President Roosevelt formed a new organization, called the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), which would bring together government, military, business, and scientific leaders to coordinate military research and bush as its chairman .This committee led research in developing new weapons bush supervised the Manhattan project and developed the first atomic bomb and thus securing victory of the allies. Bush's work not only helped the Allies win the war, but it changed the way scientific research was done in the U.S. Bush demonstrated that technology was the key to winning a war, and in turn earned a new respect for scientists. Post- war, Bush argued that the nation would still need permanent support for research.In his reply President Roosevelt request he said
“It is my judgment that the national interest in scientific research and scientific education can best be promoted by the creation of a National Research Foundation.”
During 1930, publishing of newspapers was banned. The three closely related sciences which engaged in calculating the enemy were: Operational research, game theory, and cybernetics. Weiner divided the enemies into two categories, and regarded them as devils. One was the "Manichean devil" "who is determined on victory and will use any trick of craftiness or dissimulation to obtain this victory." The other, the "Augustinian devil" was characterized by the "evil" of chance and disorder but could not change the rules unlike the “Manichean devil”.
In the First World War science had certainly played a huge part in chemical synthesis for explosives, poison gas, aeronautics and much more. In World War Two the scientific community was thoroughly mobilized to serve the state for military ends, and this led to the continuing close connection between science and the state in the following decades. As time passes with the advancement of technology new graduates were allocated to all the important areas of defense research. By twentieth century science has become the language of war. Mutual interest in winning the war, reinforced by financial support, permanently linked the military and science in a web of cross-fertilization that continues today.

R.SURENDER NAIK
CH09B071

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