History of military technology | Wikipedia audio article
The, military, funding of science has, had a powerful, transformative. Effect, on the practice, and products of scientific. Research since. The early 20th, century. Particularly. Since World War one advanced. Science-based, technologies. Have been viewed as essential, elements, of a successful military. World. War one is often called the, chemists, war both. For the extensive, use of poison gas and the importance, of nitrates, and advanced, high explosives. Poison. Gas beginning in 1915. With chlorine, from the powerful German, dye industry was, used extensively by the Germans, and the British over. The course of the war scientists. On both sides raced, to develop more and more potent, chemicals, and devised countermeasures. Against, the newest enemy, gases. Physicists. Also contributed. To the war effort developing. Wireless. Communication. Technologies. And sound based methods, of detecting, u-boats, resulting. In the first tenuous, long term connections. Between academic. Science, and the military, World War two marked a massive increase in the military, funding of science particularly. Physics, in. Addition, to the Manhattan, Project and, the resulting, atomic, bomb British, and American, work on radar, was widespread and ultimately, highly, influential, in the course of the war radar, enabled, detection, of enemy ships and aircraft, as well as the radar based proximity. Fuze. Mathematical. Cryptography. Meteorology. And rocket, science, were also central, to the war effort with, military funded, wartime, advances. Having, a significant. Long-term effect, on each discipline, the. Technologies, employed, at the end jet. Aircraft, radar, and proximity, fuzz's and the atomic bomb were. Radically, different, from pre-war, technology, military leaders, came to view continued, advances, in technology. As the critical element for success in, future Wars, the. Advent, of the Cold War solidified. The links between military, institutions. And academic, science, particularly. In the United, States and the Soviet Union so that even during a period of nominal peace military, funding, continued, to expand, funding. Spread, to the social sciences, as well as the Natural Sciences and, whole new fields, such, as digital computing. Were born of military, patronage. Following. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet, Union military. Funding, of science has decreased, substantially but. Much of the American military, scientific. Complex, remains, in place. The. Sheer scale of military, funding, for science, since World War two, has instigated, a large body of historical. Literature analyzing. The effects, of that funding, especially for, American, science. Since. Paul foremans 1987. Article, behind quantum, electronics, National, Security as a basis, for physical, research in the United State 1940. To 1960, there has been an ongoing historical, debate over precisely, how and to what extent, military, funding, affected, the course of scientific. Research and, discovery. Forman. And others have argued that military, funding, fundamentally. Redirected. Science, particularly. Physics. Toward. Applied research, and that military, technologies. Predominantly. Formed the basis, for subsequent. Research even in areas of basic science, ultimately, the very culture and ideals of science, were colored by extensive, collaboration. Between scientists. And military planners, an. Alternate. View has been presented. By Daniel kevlars that while military funding, provided, many new opportunities for scientists. And dramatically, expanded, the scope of physical, research, scientists. By and large retain, their intellectual, autonomy. Topic. Science. And military, technology, before the modern era. While, there were numerous instances. Of, military, support for scientific. Work before, the 20th, century, these were typically isolated. Instances, knowledge, gained from technology was, generally, far more important, for the development of science than scientific, knowledge was, to technological. Innovation. Thermodynamics. For example, is a science, partly, born from military, technology. One of the many sources of the first law of thermodynamics.
Was Count rum Fitz observation. Of the heat produced by boring, cannon barrels. Mathematics. Was important, in the development of, the Greek catapult, and other weapons, but analysis, of ballistics, was also important, for the development of, mathematics. While Galileo, tried, to promote the telescope, as a military, instrument, to the military, minded, Republic, of Venice before turning, it to the skies while seeking, the patronage, of the Medici, court in Florence, in general, craft based innovation. Disconnected. From the formal systems, of science was the key to military, technology. Well into the 19th century even. Craft. Based military. Technologies. Were not generally, produced, by military, funding. Instead. Craftsmen. And inventors, developed, weapons and military tools independently. And actively sought the interest, of military, patrons afterward. Following. The rise of engineering. As a profession in. The 18th century governments. And military, leaders did try to harness the methods of both science, and engineering, for more specific, ends but frequently, without success. In. The decades, leading up to the French Revolution French, artillery, officers, were often trained as engineers and, military, leaders, from this mathematical. Tradition, attempted, to transform, the process, of weapons, manufacture. From a craft based enterprise, to an organized and standardized, system based, on engineering, principles. And interchangeable. Parts predating. The work of Eli Whitney, in the u.s. during, the Revolution even natural scientists. Participated. Directly attempting. To create weapons more, powerful, than any we possessed to aid the cause of the new French Republic, though there were no means for the revolutionary, army to fund such work each. Of these efforts however. Was ultimately unsuccessful in, producing, militarily, useful, results, a slightly. Different outcome. Came from the longitude, prize of the 18th century offered. By the British, government for an accurate method, of determining a ship's longitude. At sea essential. For the safe navigation, of the powerful, British Navy, intended. To promote and, financially. Reward a scientific. Solution it was instead won by a scientific. Outsider, the clock maker John, Harrison. However. The naval utility of, astronomy, did help increase the number of capable, astronomers, and focus research on developing, more powerful, and versatile, instruments. Through. The 19th, century, science, and technology, grew closer together particularly, through electrical, and acoustic, inventions, and the corresponding. Mathematical, theories, the. Late 19th, and early 20th, centuries. Witnessed, a trend toward military, mechanization. With the advent of repeating, rifles, with smokeless, powder long-range, artillery high, explosives. Machine, guns and mechanized, transport along. With telegraphic. And later wireless, battlefield, communication. Still. Independent. Inventors, scientists. And engineers were. Largely responsible for. These drastic, changes, in military, technology with, the exception, of the development, of battleships, which could only have been created, through organized, large-scale. Effort. Topic, World, War one and the interwar, years. World, War 1 marked the first large-scale, mobilisation. Of science, for military purposes. Prior. To the war the American. Military, ran a few small laboratories. As well as the Bureau of Standards but, independent, inventors, and industrial, firms predominated. Similarly. In Europe military, directed, scientific. Research, and development, was minimal the. Powerful, new technologies. That led to trench warfare. However reversed, the traditional, advantage, of fast moving offensive. Tactics, fortified. Positions, supported, by machine, guns and artillery resulted. In high attrition but, strategic. Stalemate. Militaries. Turned to scientists. And engineers for. Even newer technologies. But the introduction, of tanks and aircraft had only a marginal impact the, use of poison gas made, a tremendous, psychological impact. But decisively, favoured neither side the. War ultimately turned, on maintaining, adequate supplies. Of materials, a problem, also addressed by military, funded science, and through. The International, chemical industry, closely, related to the advent, of chemical, warfare. The. Germans introduced. Gas as a weapon in part because naval, blockades, limited, the supply of nitrate. For explosives. While the massive German dye industry could easily produce chlorine, and organic, chemicals, in large amounts. Industrial. Capacity was. Completely, mobilized, for war and Fritz Harbor and other industrial scientists. Were eager to contribute, to the German cause soon, they were closely integrated, into the military hierarchy as, they tested, the most effective, ways of producing, and delivering weaponized.
Chemicals. Though. The initial impetus for gas warfare came, from outside the military further, developments. In chemical, weapon technology, might be considered, military funded. Considering. The blurring of lines between, industry. And nation, in Germany. Following. The first chlorine, attack by the Germans, in May 1915. The British quickly. Moved to recruit scientists. For developing, their own gas weapons. Gas. Research, escalated. On both sides with chlorine, followed by phosgene, a variety of tear, gases, and mustard, gas a wide. Array of research, was conducted on, the physiological, effects of other gases such, and hydrogen, cyanide arsenic. Compounds, and the host of complex, organic chemicals. The. British built from scratch, what became an expansive, research, facility, at Porton, Down which, remains, a significant. Military research, institution. Into the 21st, century. Unlike. Many earlier military, funded, scientific, ventures, the research at Porton, Down did not stop when the war ended, or an immediate goal was achieved in fact. Every, effort was made to create an attractive research. Environment. For top scientists. And chemical. Weapons development, continued. Apace though. In secret, through. The interwar, years and, into world war ii german, military, backed gas warfare, research did, not resume until the Nazi era following the 1936. Discovery, of Tabon the first nerve agent, through industrial, insecticide. Research. In. The United, States the established, tradition, of engineering, was explicitly, competing. With the rising, discipline, of physics, for World War one military largest, a host. Of inventors, led, by Thomas Edison and, his newly created, naval, consulting, board cranked, out thousands, of inventions, to solve military, problems, and aid the war effort, while academic, scientists. Worked through the National Research Council NRC. Led by Robert Millikan submarine. Detection was, the most important, problem, that both the physicists. And inventors, hope to solve as German, u-boats, were decimating, the crucial naval supply lines from the u.s. to England. Edison's. Board produced, very few useful innovations. But NRC, research, resulted. In a moderately successful sound. Based methods, for locating submarines. And hidden ground-based, artillery, as well as useful, navigational. And photographic. Equipment for, aircraft. Because. Of the success of academic, Science in solving, specific military, problems, the NRC, was retained after the war's end though it gradually, decoupled. From the myth many, industrial, and academic chemists. And physicists, came under military control during, the Great War, but post-war research, by the Royal Engineers, Experimental. Station at Porton, Down and, the continued, operation of, the National, Research Council were. Exceptions, to the overall pattern wartime, chemistry, funding, was a temporary, redirection. Of a field largely, driven by industry, in later medicine, while physics, grew closer to industry, than to the military, the. Discipline, of modern meteorology. However was, largely built, from military, funding. During. World War one the French civilian, meteorological. Infrastructure. Was largely absorbed into, the military the. Introduction. Of military, aircraft during, the war as well as the role of wind, and weather in the success, or failure of gas attacks, meant meteorological. Advice was in high demand, the. French army among others created. Its own supplementary.
Meteorological. Service as well retraining scientists. From other fields to staff it at. War's end the military, continued, to control French meteorology. Sending, weathermen to French colonial, interests, and integrating, weather service, with the growing Air Corps most of the early 20th, century growth. In European, meteorology. Was the direct result of military funding. World. War two would result in a similar transformation of, American, meteorology. Initiating. A transition. From an apprenticeship. System for, training weathermen based on intimate, knowledge of local trends, and geography, to the university. Based science, intensive, system, that has predominated, since. Topic. World, War, two. If World, War one was the chemists, war world war two was the physicists, war as. With, other total, wars it is difficult, to draw a line between military, funding, and more spontaneous. Military, scientific. Collaboration. During World War two, well before the invasion of Poland nationalism. Was a powerful, force in the German physics community, see Deutsche Physik, the military, mobilization of. Physicists. Was all but irresistible. After the rise of National, Socialism. German. And allied investigations. Of the possibility. Of a nuclear bomb began, in 1939. At the initiative, of civilian, scientists. But by 1942. The, respective, militaries, were heavily involved, the. German, nuclear energy project, had, two independent teams, a civilian, controlled, team under Werner Heisenberg. And a military controlled. Led by kurt diabla, the latter was more explicitly, aimed at producing a bomb as opposed, to a power reactor and received, much more funding, from the nazis though neither was ultimately successful in, the u.s. the Manhattan, Project and, other projects, of the office of scientific research, and, development, resulted, in a much more extensive, military, scientific. Venture, the scale of which dwarfed, previous, military funded. Research projects. Theoretical. Work by a number of British and American, scientists. Resulted, in significant. Optimism, about the possibility. Of a nuclear chain, reaction, as the. Physicists. Convinced, military, leaders of the potential, of nuclear weapons funding. For actual development, was ratcheted, up rapidly, a number. Of large laboratories. Were created, across the United, States for, work on different aspects, of the bomb while many existing facilities. Were reoriented, to, bomb related, work some were University. Managed, while others were government-run, but all were ultimately funded, and directed, by the military, the May.
1945. Surrender, of Germany the, original intended target, for the bomb did virtually nothing to slow the project's, momentum. After. Japan's surrender immediately following. The atomic bombings, of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki many. Scientists. Return to academia, or industry but. The Manhattan, Project infrastructure. Was too large and too effective. To. Be dismantled, wholesale. It became, the model for future, military scientific. Work in the US and elsewhere are, the wartime physics, research, particularly. In rocketry, and radar, technology. Was less significant. In popular, culture but, much more significant. For the outcome, of the war, German. Rocketry, was driven by the pursuit of one d'avin resulting, in the v2, ballistic, missile the technology. As well as the personal, expertise. Of the German rocketry, community, was absorbed, by the US, and the USSR, rocket, programs, after, the war forming, the basis, of long-term military, funded, rocketry, ballistic. Missile and later Space Research. Rocket. Science was only beginning to make impact, by the final, years of the war, German. Rockets created, fear and destruction in London, but had only modest, military, significance while. Air-to-ground, rockets, enhanced, the power of American, air strikes jet aircraft also went into service by the end of the war, radar. Work before and during the war provided, even more of an advantage for, the Allies British, physicists, pioneered, long wave radar, developing. An effective system for detecting incoming German. Air Force's, work. On potentially, more precise, shortwave. Radar, was turned over to the US, several, thousand, academic, physicists. And engineers not. Participating. The Manhattan, Project did, radar, work particularly. At MIT and Stanford, resulting. In microwave, radar systems. That could resolve more detail, in incoming, flight formations. Further. Refinement. Of microwave, technology, led, to proximity. Fuzzes which greatly enhanced, the ability of the u.s. Navy, to defend against, Japanese, bombers. Microwave. Production. Detection. And manipulation. Also, formed the technical, foundation to complement, the institutional. Foundation. Of the Manhattan, Project in much post-war defense research. Topic. American cold war science, in the years immediately following World War two, the military was by far the most significant. Patron, of university. Science research, in the US and the National Labs also, continued, to flourish after. Two years in political, limbo but with work on nuclear power and bomb manufacture. Continuing, a pace the Manhattan Project became. A permanent arm, of the government as the Atomic, Energy Commission. The. Navy inspired. By the success of military, directed, wartime, research created. Its own R&D, organization. The Office of Naval Research which, would preside over an, expanded, long term research program, at Naval Research Laboratory, as, well as fund a variety of, university-based. Research. Military. Money following, up the wartime radar, research led, to explosive, growth in both electronics. Research and electronics, manufacturing. The. Air Force became, an independent service, branch from the Army and established, its own research, and development, system, and the army followed suit though it was less invested, in academic, science than the Navy or Air Force. Meanwhile. The perceived communist, menace of the Soviet, Union caused tensions, and military, budgets, to escalate, rapidly, the. Department, of Defense primarily. Funded what has been broadly described. As physical, research but to reduce this to merely chemistry. And physics, is misleading. Military. Patronage, benefited, a large number of fields, and in fact helped create a number, of the modern scientific, disciplines. At. Stanford, and MIT for. Example, electronics. Aerospace, engineering. Nuclear. Physics and material, science, all physics, broadly, speaking each developed.
In Different directions becoming. Increasingly, independent, of parent, disciplines, as they grew and pursued defense related research agendas. What. Began as interdepartmental. Laboratories. Became, the Centers for graduate. Teaching, and research innovation. Thanks, to the broad scope of Defense funding the. Need to keep up with corporate, technology, research which was receiving, the lion's share of, fence contracts. Also prompted. Many science, labs to establish, close relationships. With industry. Topic. Computing. The. Complex, histories, of computer, science, and computer engineering, were shaped in the first decades, of digital, computing, almost, entirely, by military, funding, most. Of the basic, component, technologies. For digital, computing, were developed, through the course of the long-running whirlwind, sage program to, develop an automated, radar, shield. Virtually. Unlimited funds. Enabled, two decades, of research that only, began producing useful, technologies. By the end of the 50s even the final version, of the sage command and control system. Had only marginal, military, utility. More. So than with previously, established disciplines. Receiving. Military funding, the culture, of computer, science, was permeated, with a cold war military perspective. Indirectly. The ideas, of computer, science also had a profound effect, on psychology. Cognitive science. And neuroscience through. The mind computer, analogy. Topic. Geosciences. And astrophysics. The history, of earth science, and the history of astrophysics, were. Also closely tied to military, purposes, and funding, throughout the Cold War. American. Geodesy. Oceanography. And seismology, grew, from small sub disciplines in, into full-fledged independent. Disciplines, as for several decades virtually. All funding, in these fields, came from the Department, of Defense a central. Goal that tied these disciplines, together even, while providing the means for intellectual. Independence was. The figure of the earth the model of the Earth's geography. And gravitation. That was essential, for accurate ballistic. Missiles, in. The 1960s. Geodesy, was the superficial, goal, of the satellite, program, Corona while military reconnaissance, was, in fact a driving, force, even. For geodetic, data new, secrecy, guidelines, were to restrict, collaboration. In a field that had formerly been fundamentally. International, the figure of the earth had geopolitical. Significance beyond. Questions, of pure Geoscience. Still. Jihadists. Were able to retain enough autonomy, and subvert secrecy, limitations. Enough to make use of the findings of their military research to overturn, some of the fundamental, theories, of geodesy, like. Geodesy, and satellite, photography research. The advent, of radio astronomy had, a military, purpose hidden, beneath official. Astrophysical. Research agenda. Quantum. Electronics, permitted. Both revolutionary. New methods, of analyzing the, universe, and using, the same equipment and, technology, the monitoring, of Soviet, electronic, signals, military, interest, in and funding, of seismology. Meteorology. And oceanography was. In some ways a result, of the defense-related payoffs. Of physics, and geodesy, the. Immediate, goal of funding, in these fields, was to detect clandestine. Nuclear testing, and track fallout, radiation a necessary, precondition for treaties. To limit the nuclear, weapon technology. Earlier, military, research had created, in. Particular, the, feasibility, of monitoring, underground, nuclear explosions. Was crucial, to the possibility. Of a comprehensive rather. Than partial, nuclear test, ban treaty, but. The military, funded, growth of these disciplines, continued. Even when no pressing, military, goals were driving, them as with other natural sciences, the, military, also found, value, in having scientists. On tap for unforeseen, future R&D. Needs. Topic. Biological. Sciences. The. Biological. Sciences, were also affected by military, funding, but with the exception of nuclear, physics related, medical and genetic research, largely. Indirectly. The. Most significant. Funding sources, for basic, research before, the rise of the military-industrial, academic. Complex, were philanthropic. Organizations. Such as the Rockefeller, Foundation. After. World War two and to some extent, before the influx, of new industrial. And military funding. Opportunities. For the physical, sciences, prompted, philanthropies. To divest from physics, research, most. Early work in high-energy physics, and biophysics, had been the product of foundation, grants, and, refocus. On biological. And medical, research. The. Social sciences, also found limited, military support, from the 1940s, to, the 1960s. But, much defense minded, social, science research, could be and was. Pursued. Without extensive. Military funding. In. The 1950s. Social. Scientists. Tried to emulate the interdisciplinary.
Organizational. Success of the physical, sciences Manhattan. Project, with the synthetic behavioral. Science, movement, social. Scientists. Actively, sought to promote the usefulness, to the military, researching. Topics related. To propaganda. Put to use in career, decision-making. The, psychological. And sociological, causes. And effects of communism, and a broad constellation. Of other topics, of Cold War significance. By. The 1960s. Economists, and political scientists. Offered up modernization. Theory for the cause of Cold, War nation-building. Modernization. Theory found a home in the military, in the form of Project, Camelot a study, of the process, of revolution, as well as, in the Kennedy administration's. Approach to the Vietnam, War Project, Camelot was, ultimately cancelled, because of the concerns, it raised about scientific. Objectivity in. The context, of such a politicized, research. Agenda, though natural sciences, were not yet susceptible. To impact, of, the corrupting, influence of military, and political factors, the social sciences, were. Topic. Historical. Debate. Historian. Paul Forman in his seminal, 1987. Article, proposed, that not only had military funding, of science greatly, expanded, the scope and significance of. American, physics it also, initiated, a qualitative. Change in. Its purposes. And character. Historians. Of science were, beginning, to turn to the Cold War relationship. Between science, and the military, for detailed, study and Foreman's, distortion. Aspre TKE as Roger Geiger, has described, it served to focus the ensuing debates. Foreman. And others eg, Robert, Seidel, Stewart, Leslie and for the history of the social sciences, Ron Robin, view the influx of military money and the focus on applied rather than basic, research as having had at least partially. A negative, impact on the course of subsequent, research, in. Turn, critics, of the distortion, is thisss, beginning, with Daniel kevlars, deny, that the military, seduced. American, physicists. From so, to speak, a true, basic, physics. Kevlars. As well as Geiger instead, view the effects, of military, funding, relative, to such funding, simply, being absent, rather, than put two alternate, scientific. Use, most. Recent, scholarship has moved, toward, a tempered version, of Foreman's thesis, in which scientists. Retain significant. Autonomy, despite the radical, changes, brought about by military, funding. Topic. See, also. History. Of weapons. Big. Science. Funding. Of science. Historiography. Of, science. History. Of radar. History. Of science and technology. History. Of technology. Military-industrial, complex. Military. Science. Military. Technology. Military. Medicine. Military. Wireless, Museum in the Midlands. Topic. Notes, and references.
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