Louis Rapkine and the Restoration of French Science after the Second World War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8939873 |
|---|---|
| Authors | DORIS T ZALLEN (0000-0002-5688-5640, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 6-6 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | French Historical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-1071 • E-ISSN: 1527-5493 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/286277 |
| OpenAlex | W2329549019 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
At the close of World War II, the French scientific establishment was in shambles. At this critical period, Louis Rapkine, a scientist and naturalized French citizen, became the central figure in a plan that enlisted the help of the Rockefeller Foundation in assisting the recovery of the French scientific community. In this article I describe the circumstances that enabled Rapkine to act on behalf of French science, the manner in which the program was shaped and carried out, and the effect it had on the rebuilding of scientific programs in France. For the most part, the university system had continued to function during the war and the structures housing laboratories had survived without damage. However, research in the basic sciences had been adversely affected by the loss of personnel as a result of the forced removal of some scientists to concentration camps, the departure of others to safer havens, and the commitment of still others to the Resistance. Scientists who remained in France were isolated from scientific communities elsewhere and left unaware of the advances, many of them quite important, that had been made in their own fields. Scientific work was also impaired by the loss of equipment. The Germans had requisitioned valuable scientific equipment and removed it from laboratories. What was left was in deplorable condition: outdated or, because of the inability to obtain necessary replacement parts, unusable. French industry, severely disrupted by the occupation and the fighting
Archaeology · Economic history · Political science · World War II · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2002 - 2024 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |