Call Number:

519

Repository:

Science History Institute Archives

Extent:

.01 linear feet (1 folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Item Description, Science and Public Affairs Pamphlet, 1949, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1946

Abstract:

A copy of Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 119, from Public Affairs Pamphlets, titled "Should the Government Support Science?" by Waldemar Kaempffert.

The Public Affairs Committee was an American non-profit educational organization founded in 1935. The committee's goal was to establish a bridge between ongoing research and the lay American person, with its members representing various fields of scholarship. To actualize this goal, the committee produced inexpensive pamphlets that provided brief summaries of issues that were relevant to the American people. The Public Affairs Committee did not operate their own research facility and instead worked closely with outside research centers such as Brookings Institution, the Institute of Public Administration, and the Committee on Social Security of the Social Science Research Council. The Public Affairs Committee published over 200 pamphlets covering a variety of topics, such as war, science, gender and racial inequality, as well as economics.

This collection consists of one copy of Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 119, from Public Affairs Pamphlets, titled "Should the Government Support Science?" by Waldemar Kaempffert. The pamphlet explores the need for scientific innovations and provides eight recommendations: that scientific innovation should be a national concern, scientists should be free to pursue their research interests, the results of research should be widely available to the public, the scientific community should operate on an international scale, the National Science Foundation board should be operated by scientists, there should be a focus on "fundamental" science rather than applied science, social sciences should be excluded from the National Science Foundation, and that increased funds should be made available for scholarships and fellowships. The pamphlet is 32 pages long and includes corresponding illustrations placed throughout the text.