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6 - ‘Western Civilisation’ and Applied Science

from Stage 2 - Research in the Early Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

Robert Bud
Affiliation:
Science Museum, London
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Summary

After World War One, new institutions and gadgets gave reality to a changing landscape of public culture. Therefore, in this chapter, we explore applied science in the inter-war public realm. Society’s usage interacted with officials’ language as public and bureaucratic discussions of applied science intertwined. Talk about applied science connected intimately with an intense discussion of ‘modern civilisation’ to make sense of science too. Amidst anxiety, the separation of pure and applied became important to science’s standing. To some, the process by which scientific research led to a multitude of new gadgets was frighteningly dangerous. To others, science was exploited too slowly due to the historical inadequacy of British industry. Both branch of government and a cathedral of applied science, the Science Museum displayed linkages between science and technical wonders. Debates were conducted over the new radio service and in newspapers, and were contested by bishops as well as politicians.

Type
Chapter
Information
Applied Science
Knowledge, Modernity, and Britain's Public Realm
, pp. 166 - 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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