Figure 1.-- |
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Political leadership was vital to the scientific effort. Political leadership was vital in mobilizing the country's scientific capabilitie and giving them the needed resources. Here the different national leaders varied widely as did the scientific establishment in each country. Winston Churchill was by a wide margin the most far-sighted of theWorld war II leaders. He also had the greatest interest in science, both because iof his inquiring mind and his Workd War I leadrship roles. And somehowv was able to launch Britain's scientific effort while still a back-bencher, 5 years before the War. As First Lord of the Admiralty and Munitions Minister as well as other posts, he had learned to be skeptical about the pronouncements of even top military commanders. And entirely by chance, he met Oxford University physicist F.A. Lindemann (whose father was German and mother American) at a tennis match. Lindemann had performed experiments aboard airplanes during the War. He took the opportunity to begin lecturing Churchill on how sciebce might protect Britain in a future war, especially how to protect Bruitish cities from aerial bombardment (1934). Churchill who was already interested in science, pressed the Government to ebngage scientific advisers. The Government was not interested in costly military rearmament, but fortunately did bring in some scientists, in part it could be done at low cost. The first of these scientists were Henry Tizard (chemist), A.V. Hill (biologist), and Patrick Blackett (pysicist). [Budiansky] Hundreds more would follow and would playv a key role in the British war effort. Nothing like this had occurred in America. Churchill decided to turn their work over to the Americans (October 1940). Adolf Hitler upon becoming Chancellor gained control over a country with an important industrial abd scientific base. Germany even after World War I had the strongest scientific establishmnt in the world. It was one of Germany's great strengths. It was, however, an establishment in which Jews played a small, but important role, most notably in physics. Hitler was interested in industry, but not in particularly in science. He was more inclined to form opinions as to what science should teach than to incourage free scientific inquiry. And his approach was not to seek advise from scientists or any one else. Rather he was more inclined to issue orders or make demands, realistic or not. Of all the national leadwrs, he had the longest period to prepare for war. The Germany that Hitler seized control of, however, had many weaknesses including limited access to critical raw materials, a limited population, and substantial but still inadequate industrial capacity for another world war. Only almost incoceivable stupidity on the part of Allied leaders and voters would give Hitler the opportunities he needed. Incredibly he almost pulled it off. The Red Army offensive before Moscow (December 1941) denied Hutler the quick victory he needed. As soon as the War became a repeat of World war I, a lengthy war of attrition, the NAZIs were lost. Only a super weapon like the atmomic bomb could have saved thr NAZIs and here Hitler had incredibly disarmed Germany. Shortly after becoming Chancellor, he told German scientific leader Max Plank. who warmed that his anti-Semetic campaign was disarming German physics, Hitler erupted showing his disdain for both Jews and scientists, "Our national policies will not be revoked or modified. Even for scientists. If the dismissal of Jewish scientists means the annihilation of contemporary German science, then we shall do without science for a few years!" Franklin Roosevelt was not a deep thinker, but an individual of enormous political skills and devotion to the ideals of democracy. He among all the Allied political leaders took an immediate distaste to Hitler and the NAZIs. (Churchill was out of Government at the time.) He had very little interest in science or the military. His focus was on the Depression and a range of social initiatives. As war clouds developecd in Europe, he began to begin defense preparations within the limits set by an American public intent on staying out of any future war. Rooevelt while not overly interested in science, was astute to understand that it would be important in any future war. He thus sought out scientific expertise in a way that Hitler or Stalin never did. Most notablyb he took a letter from Albert Einstein about an atomic bomb very seriously. President Roosevelt appointed Vannevar Bush to be his scientific adviser. Bush and the National Research Committee would play an important role in the War. Unlike Britain, America had not mobilized its scientific estabishment. Primeninister Churchill jumpstarted America's scientific war effort hen he turned the advabce British weapons research over to the Americans. America had what neither the British or Germans did not, the industrial capacity to produce weapons, including advanced weapons systems in great numbers. Josef Stalin was somewhat similar to Hitler as regards science. He was much more interested in industry than in science, especially theoretical science. And just as Hitler wanted science to prove his racial beliefs, Stalin wanted a science that conformed to his Marist ideology. Stalin was drawn to a politically correct scientific charlatan--Trotim Lysenko. Lysenko rejected Darwin and because of his peasant origins was just the kind of person Stalin needed. And the fact that Lysenko had no foreign contacts or admirers made him even more accecptable to Stalin. Lysenko would set back Sovieet science, especially biology a generation. And the Soviet Union would not, unlike Anerica, Britain, and Germany, introduce innovative, high-tech weaonry duing the War. They did build a range of rugged, higly effective weapons. The most prominent of the Soviet weapons was the T-34 tank.
Winston Churchill was by a wide margin the most far-sighted of the World war II leaders. He also had the greatest interest in science, both because iof his inquiring mind and his World War I leadrship roles. And somehow was able to launch Britain's scientific effort while still a back-bencher, 5 years before the War. As First Lord of the Admiralty and Munitions Minister as well as other posts, he had learned to be skeptical about the pronouncements of even top military commanders. And entirely by chance, he met Oxford University physicist F.A. Lindemann (whose father was German and mother American) at a tennis match. Lindemann had perforned experiments aboard airplanes during World War I. He took the opportunity to begin lecturing Churchill on how science might protect Britain in a future war, especially how to protect British cities from aerial bombardment (1934). Lindemann was disturbed by the rise of the NAZIs in Germany. He helped a number of German Jewish physicists, primarily at the University of Göttingen, to emigrate to England to work in the Clarendon Laboratory.
Churchill who was already interested in science, pressed the Government to engage scientific advisers. The Government was not interested in costly military rearmament, but fortunately did bring in some scientists, as long as it could be done at low cost. The first of these scientists were Henry Tizard (chemist), A.V. Hill (biologist), and Patrick Blackett (pysicist). [Budiansky] Hundreds more would follow and would play a key role in the British war effort. Nothing like this had occurred in America. Churchill once prime-minister decided to turn their work over to the Americans wiuth no strings attached before the United States entered the War (October 1940). The result was the Tizzard Mission.
Adolf Hitler upon becoming Chancellor gained control over a country with a leading industrial and scientific base. Germany even after World War I had the strongest scientific establishment in the world. It was one of Germany's great strengths. It was, however, an establishment in which Jews played a small, but important role, most notably in physics. Hitler was interested in industry, but not particularly in science. He was more inclined to form opinions as to what science should teach than to incourage free scientific inquiry. And his approach was not to seek advise from scientists or any one else. Rather he saw himself as aman of action, issuing orders and making demands, realistic or not. Notably unlike Churchill and Roosevelt, and to some extent Stalin, Hitler did not have a major scientific advisor. Of all the major national leaders, except Stalin, Hitler had the longest period to prepare for war. The Germany that Hitler seized control of, however, had many weaknesses limiting itswar makuing capabilities. These included limited access to critical raw materials, a large but not overwealming population, and substantial but still inadequate industrial capacity for another world war. Only almost incoceiveable stupidity on the part of Allied leaders and voters would give Hitler the opportunities he needed. Incredibly he almost pulled it off. And only the Red Army offensive before Moscow (December 1941) denied Hutler the quick victory he needed. As soon as the War became a repeat of World War I, a lengthy war of attrition on two fronts, the NAZIs were lost. Only a super weapon like the atmomic bomb could have saved the Reich and here Hitler with his Jewish mania had incredibly disarmed Germany. Shortly after becoming Chancellor, he had a confrontayion with world renounded physicist, Max Plank. Plank, who would have made a highly competent scientific adviser, warmed him that his anti-Semetic campaign was disarming German physics. Hitler erupted into an empassioneddiatribe. Showing his disdain for both Jews and scientists, he screamed at Plank, "Our national policies will not be revoked or modified. Even for scientists. If the dismissal of Jewish scientists means the annihilation of contemporary German science, then we shall do without science for a few years!"
Italy compared to the mnajor beliggerants had a much smaller evonomy and scientific establishment. Italy excelled in one areas, mathematics--perhaps because it was theleast expensive discipline to pursue. In other areas, Italy was a scientific backwater, with a few luminaries Guglielmo Marconi and Enrico Fermi. As far as we know, Mussolini had no interest in science and its very real potential application to war making. While other Western leaders were pursuing military plans to avoid casualties using science, Mussolini primary military slogan was '8 million bsyonets' and he increasedthe number over time. His Fascist regime uterly destroyed the scientific capability Italy had. Appointments to scientific instituteswere like the Unione Matematica Italiana (UMI) were made on political reliability and ideology. In addution, travel, visitors, conferences, journal subscriptions become increasingly difficult. The Fascist idea Autarchia becomes increasingly enforced, cutting Italian scientists off from the wider, most advanced scientific world. The final disasterous step was the Race Laws that Hitkler virtully demanded Mussolini adopt (1938). Italy had a small, but important Jewish community with many academics, mathemiticans, and scientits. As a result Fermi (who had a Jewish wife, leftafter winning yhe Nobel; Prize for Physics. Of Fermi’s collaborators, only Edoardo Amaldi decides to remain in Italy. Fermi, Emilio Segrč, and Bruno Rossi would work on the Mnhattan Project. [Benzi]
Franklin Roosevelt was not a deep thinker, but an individual of enormous political skills and devotion to the ideals of democracy. He among all the Allied political leaders took an immediate distaste to Hitler and the NAZIs. (Churchill was out of Government at the time.) He had very little interest in science or the military. His focus was on the Depression and a range of social initiatives. As war clouds developecd in Europe, he began to begin fefense preparations within the limits set by an American public intent on staying out of any future war. Rooevelt while not overly interested in science, was astute to understand that it would be important in any future war. He thus sought out scientific expertise in a way that Hitler or Stalin never did. Most notably he took a letter from Albert Einstein about an atomic bomb very seriously. President Roosevelt relied heavily on Vannevar Bush to guide him in scientific matters. Bush was an respected engineer, inventor, acdemic, and science administrator. Roosevelt appointed him to head the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1938. He quickly its chairman. Roosevelt who saw the importance of air power wasimpressed with him and Bush became in essence the President's science adviser. As chairman of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), and later director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Developmen (OSRD), Bush at the President's direction would coordinate the activities of some 6,000 leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. Bush and the NDRC would play an important role in the War. The United States had a lot of catching up to do. Unlike Britain, America had not mobilized its scientific estabishment. Prime-minister Churchill in effect jump started America's scientific war effort when he turned the advanced British weapons research over to the United States. America had what the British or Germans did not, the industrial capacity to produce weapons, including advanced weapons systems, in staggering numbers.
Josef Stalin was somewhat similar to Hitler as regards science. He was much more interested in industry than in science, especially theoretical science. And just as Hitler wanted science to prove his racial beliefs, Stalin wanted a science that conformed to his Marist ideology. Stalin was drawn to a politically correct scientific charlatan--Trotim Lysenko. Lysenko rejected Darwin and because of his peasant origins was just the kind of person Stalin wanted. And the fact that Lysenko had no foreign contacts or admirers made him even more accecptable to Stalin. Lysenko would set back Soviet science, especially biology, a generation. And the Sovuiet Union would not, unlike America, Britain, and Germany, introduce innovative, high-tech weaonry during the War. They did build a range of rugged, higly effective weapons on the battlefield. The most prominent of the Soviet weapns was the T-34 tank.
Benzi, Michele. "Science and Fascism: Scientific Research Under a Totalitarian Regime">
Budiansky, Stephen. Blackett's War (2013), 306p.
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