Alexander Todd - A Time to Remember

Science in its pure form, i.e. the improvement of natural knowledge as described in our Charter is, of course, a branch of culture just as much as music or the arts and to it as to these other branches government stands as a patron. In the case of science, however, it is not a wholly disinterested patron. For government is about power, and from science, or rather from scientific research, come discoveries in which lie the seeds of future power. Moreover, in a technological age the promotion of science is necessary in order that trained scientific manpower will be available to meet the country's needs. Government therefore is and must be prepared to devote substantial sums to the promotion of science. Of course, no government has unlimited resources at its disposal so that although it cannot - and must not attempt to - control the direction of scientific research it clearly must control the scale of expenditure and the weight of effort to be made in its various branches. A policy for science is therefore necessary. The second heading - that of scientifically based policy - is perhaps the one in which government involvement is of longest standing. It covers the promotion of activities involving scientific research which are essential to the national interest. In Britain the first example of this was the foundation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1675 by Charles II (although it was so grossly neglected by government in its early years that it would not have survived if the Royal Society had not taken it under its wing). The Observatory owed its creation to the manifest need for improvements in navigation which could only come through scientific research. Later examples are to be found in, for example, the Meteorological Office and the National Physical Laboratory. The third interface at which science and government come together, is where it is necessary to choose a policy or course of action from several alternatives among which choice involves not merely political and economic considerations but also a knowledge of scientific facts and their implications. Decision as to whether an energy policy should depend on nuclear power, on coal, on solar energy or on some other source of power is an example which is being widely discussed at the present time.

To understand the position of the Royal Society in such matters it is necessary to look back for a brief space at the changes which have occurred in the relationship between science and government during this century. The crucial factor in the enormous development of our material civilisation since about the middle of the nineteenth century has been science-based technology. Its growing importance naturally brought in its train an increasing demand for research and for trained scientific manpower. Universities and other institutions of tertiary education burgeoned and in them research, both pure and applied, grew in amount and became one of their standard features. Why the infusion of the new science-based technology into British industry should have lagged behind its introduction in some other countries during this period has been much discussed. I believe that an important factor in it was the feather-bedding effect of the enormous input of wealth from the Empire which concealed the growing obsolescence of our industry and our educational system and encouraged a false complacency. However, this is not the occasion to debate that topic interesting and important though it is. Whatever the reason, Britain was brought up with a shock on the outbreak of the First World War when it was found that she had become dependent on her enemy, Germany, for many of her needs - including, I have been told, even the dyestuff used for the khaki uniforms of her troops! Clearly action was called for and government set up a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (D.S.I.R.) to promote science in industry at large. During the latter part of the war, too, in preparation for the post-war reconstruction of the economy, a committee on the machinery of government was set up under Lord Haldane - the Haldane Committee - and its recommendations set the pattern for government relations with science in Britain until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

Briefly put, Haldane recognised that executive departments of government should have within them scientific organisations to ensure that research directly relevant to their needs would be carried out. However, because such organisations would inevitably be largely preoccupied with day to day requirements it would be necessary to have some other body or bodies which would be free from this and could promote scientific research of a longer term character. Initially these bodies were to be the D.S.I.R., the newly formed Medical Research Council (M.R.C.) and to them were added the Agricultural Research Council (A.R.C.) and much later the Nature Conservancy. Each of these was set up with its own laboratories and was charged also with the support of research in universities by means of student awards, creation of associated units and the support of researches 'of timeliness and promise'. These supplemented resources made available to universities through their general grant from the University Grants Committee and they really represent the origin of the dual support system for university research. In addition, D.S.I.R. was charged with the added duty of promoting research in British industry; one of the more interesting ways in which it sought to do this was by the creation of the Industrial Research Associations. In order to safeguard their independence and freedom from departmental influence or control D.S.I.R. and the Research Councils were placed under the Privy Council and their executive heads as well as members of their councils were appointed by the Lord President only after consultation with the President of the Royal Society. The position of the Royal Society as the country's national academy of science was recognised in this way but apart from occasional informal contacts between its President and Ministers it represented the sole involvement of the Society with the policies of government.

At the time of the Haldane Report and in the early years of the Research Councils it seemed that a fruitful relationship between science, industry and government was almost within sight. But that hope was not fulfilled; although matters were a great deal better than before, they still fell far short of expectations. Civil executive departments soon forgot about the desirability of having an active scientific organisation. Why, for example, should a Ministry of Transport bother about road research when the D.S.I.R. was there? If any awkward questions were ever asked it could use D.S.I.R. as a screen. Some of the more backward industries, far from being stimulated to do research, simply took the line that there was no need to spend much money on it since D.S.I.R. and the Research Associations would take care of it for them. Finally, the setting up of some government research establishments under D.S.I.R. with permanent staffs but no challenging economic objectives to attain proved to be then, as it is today, a recipe for disaster. Despite such weaknesses, however, progress was indeed achieved during the inter-war period and even if the country was ill-prepared for war in 1939, its outbreak found Britain comparatively well supplied with operative scientific organisations which could be and did indeed become the basis for the enormous development of science as applied to the manifold problems of war between 1939 and 1945. The story of science in Britain during the last war is well known and need not be repeated here. Government, university and industrial research laboratories both jointly and separately made vital contributions -radar, penicillin, operational analysis and nuclear energy to name but a few. All aspects of science and public policy were involved and the central body which served as both the link with and adviser to government was the Scientific Advisory Committee to the War Cabinet. That committee consisted of the President and two Secretaries (A and B) of the Royal Society, and the executive Heads of the Research Councils under the chairmanship of the Lord President of the Council representing the government of the day.