World War I, Poison Gas Research, and the Ideals of American Chemists

Bibliographic Data

ID11925027
AuthorsGilbert Whittemore (corresponding author), Gilbert F Whittemore
Year1975
Volume5
Issue2
Pages135-163
Publication date1975-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Studies of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/030631277500500202
OpenAlexW2091228202
LanguageEN
Citations received4

It is becoming increasingly clear that the relation between science and the military is much more complex than the process of inventing military hardware., There are deeper influences at work than technological innovation and financial support; institutions and attitudes both influence the relationship of science with the military and are altered by it.' This paper examines one small aspect of this broad problem by focusing on a particular event: the participation of American chemists in poison gas research in World War 1. This area has not been greatly studied; indeed, most analyses of gas research are parts of broader discussions of science as a whole in World War I, which are in turn themselves but elements of still more general treatments of the entire issue of science and the military. To the extent that there is one, the standard view regards American gas research as arising suddenly in the patriotic fervour of the war and being forsaken soon after the Armistice. The scientists and generals are portrayed as two radically opposed groups, thrown together by exceptional circumstances into a 'tenuous and short-lived' relationship.2

First world war · Political science · Relation (database · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Work (physics · World War II · Computer Science · Engineering · Historical and Scientific Studies · History · History and advancements in chemistry · Law · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments

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