The objects of the Society for Freedom in Science.

  • Society for Freedom in Science.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The objects of the Society for Freedom in Science. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the British Association in 1933. The Association’s new outlook was reflected in Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins’s Presidential Address. As he said himself, “You may feel that throughout this address I have dwelt exclusively on the material benefits of science to the neglect of its cultural value.” The movement first began to become really powerful in 1936, when the economist, Sir Josiah Stamp (later Lord Stamp), ation at Blackpool. For some years it looked as though the case of those who believe in pure science and freedom in science would go by default, through their continued neglect to state their own point of view. Prof. J. D. Bernal’s book, The Social Function of Science (1939), became a keystone of the movement against free science. Certain scientific journalists joined the movement and spread its propaganda. The Association of Scientific Workers adopted the movement as a part of its policy, and has worked and in public. Much publicity has been given to -some of the meetings of the A.Sc.W., and the popular press has reported its deliberations as though they represented the voice of the general body of scientists. The movement against freedom in science continued to be associated with Marxist politics, In 1938 the British Association founded a new Division, called ‘‘ The Division for the Social and In- ternational Relations of Science,’ in which the voices of those who were opposed to pure science and to free- dom in science were at first particularly prominent. At a large and much-publicized meeting held at the Royal Institution, London, in September 1941, the new movement reached its climax. Pure science was ee
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