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Book ID: CBB027037258

Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean (2021)

Oreskes, Naomi (Author)

University of Chicago Press
Publication date: 2021
Language: English

ISBN: 9780226732381

Publication Date: 2021
Physical Details: 744

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Patronage Military research Funding and finance Science and war; science and the military Oceanography Oceans and seas 21st century 20th century, late United States

What difference does it make who pays for science? Some might say none. If scientists seek to discover fundamental truths about the world, and they do so in an objective manner using well-established methods, then how could it matter who’s footing the bill? History, however, suggests otherwise. In science, as elsewhere, money is power. Tracing the recent history of oceanography, Naomi Oreskes discloses dramatic changes in American ocean science since the Cold War, uncovering how and why it changed. Much of it has to do with who pays. After World War II, the US military turned to a new, uncharted theater of warfare: the deep sea. The earth sciences—particularly physical oceanography and marine geophysics—became essential to the US Navy, who poured unprecedented money and logistical support into their study. Science on a Mission brings to light how this influx of military funding was both enabling and constricting: it resulted in the creation of important domains of knowledge but also significant, lasting, and consequential domains of ignorance. As Oreskes delves into the role of patronage in the history of science, what emerges is a vivid portrait of how naval oversight transformed what we know about the sea. It is a detailed, sweeping history that illuminates the ways funding shapes the subject, scope, and tenor of scientific work, and it raises profound questions about the purpose and character of American science. What difference does it make who pays? The short answer is: a lot.

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Reviewed By

Review Simone Turchetti (2023) Review of "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean". Environmental History (pp. 595-597). unapi

Review Greg Whitesides (2022) Review of "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 211-213). unapi

Review Christine Keiner (2021) Review of "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean". Science (pp. 245-245). unapi

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