Science, Technology, and Global Security

Past Projects – 1970s

• Social Values and Technology Choice in an International Context: In 1978, an Academy-organized symposium brought together more than 30 scientists, scholars and public officials, from developed and developing nations, to discuss how social values do and should influence technology choice by nations and by groups of nations. General discussion led to a direct examination of the meaning of “appropriate technology,” in concept and in practice. The study focused on the ambiguities that complicate technology choice beyond cost, efficiency and acceptability in the marketplace. The resulting collection of papers offers an assessment of the appropriate technology movement and considers its relevance for the economic circumstances, available resources, technological expertise, and social values of both advanced industrial nations and developing countries.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1978-1980
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Franklin A. Long (Cornell University)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Appropriate Technology and Social Values – A Critical Appraisal,” eds. Franklin A. Long and Alexandra Oleson. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1980. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: National Science Foundation, Johnson Foundation, Exxon Corporation
  
  
• National Energy Issues : In the 1970s, the use of plutonium as an energy source was highly controversial. The Academy, in cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory, held a joint symposium that included a wide range of academics from the sciences, social sciences and humanities, special interest groups, representatives of energy-related industries, the media, and politicians, all of whom participate in determining energy policy. The resulting book stressed the socio-economic considerations, such as income distribution, of alternative energy policies and the political realities that determine national energy policy. Other Academy studies have followed that focused on energy and the environment as international political and economic conditions changed over time.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1978-1980
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Robert G. Sachs (University of Chicago)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “National Energy Issues – How Do We Decide? Plutonium as a Test Case,” ed. Robert G. Sachs. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1980. (out of print)
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: Argonne Universities Association
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Argonne National Laboratory
  
  
• Resources, Incentives and Agriculture: With many parts of the world facing food scarcity, the Academy sponsored a workshop concerned with the development of policies that will increase food supplies in low-income countries. Increasing agricultural production was an essential component of those policies; yet, some policies distorted incentives for agricultural production, thereby reducing the potential food supply. Study participants looked at the world agricultural imbalance from a variety of perspectives to provide a sophisticated understanding of the severe world hunger problem. Among the agenda topics were the changing patterns of constraints on food production in the Developing World, inadequacy of incentives for agricultural research, and barriers to efficient capital investment that would augment agricultural productivity.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1977-1978
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Theodore W. Schultz (University of Chicago)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Distortions of Agricultural Incentives,” ed. Theodore W. Schultz. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1978. (out of print)
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: International Development Research Center of Canada
  
  
• Transforming Knowledge into Food in a Worldwide Context: Twenty-two biological and social scientists from academic, research, governmental, and international institutions gathered for a symposium to discuss how the academic community might help mitigate the ravages of hunger and malnutrition worldwide. The major focus was on improving the quality, direction, and organization of research designed to alleviate the world food problem. Ways of improving agricultural education in developing countries, adapting technology to local conditions, and identifying areas of research most likely to increase food production were explored. Scholars attempted to identify the limits of existing knowledge and explore the most promising sources of new knowledge.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1977-1978
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: William F. Hueg, Jr., and Craig A. Gannon (both of University of Minnesota)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Transforming Knowledge into Food in a Worldwide Context,” eds. William F. Hueg, Jr., and Craig A. Gannon. Minneapolis: Miller Publishing Company, 1978. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Cargill, International Multifoods, General Mills Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: University of Minnesota
  
  
• Policies for Chemical Weapons and Chemical Arms Control: Since the end of World War I, chemical weapons had eluded the persistent efforts of governments to ban their production and stockpiling through formally negotiated agreement. The Academy hosted a conference to allow scholars an opportunity to systematically analyze the critical issues involved with chemical weapons policy and to develop a framework for official deliberations among nations. Participants included persons with broad experience in defense and arms control, as well as those with special knowledge of chemical weapons. While no unanimity was sought or reached, some specific measures that could form the core of an arms control agreement were examined. An arms control agreement based on these measures would: 1) prohibit the production and possession of chemical weapons; 2) provide for mutually observed destruction of existing stocks and the dismantling or conversion of chemical weapons-production facilities; and 3) create a permanent commission to foster communication and cooperation in problems of toxic waste disposal.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1977-78
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Matthew Meselson (Harvard University)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Chemical Weapons and Chemical Arms Control,” ed. Matthew Meselson. New York and Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1978. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Ford Foundation, Program for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  
  
• Arid Zone Development: One-third of the earth’s land surface is arid or semi-arid. In 1975, in celebration of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s 50th anniversary, leading scientists from Israel and the U.S. convened at the Academy to participate in a two-day program devoted to the problems and potentialities relating to the development of the world’s arid regions. Participants examined the development of arid and semi-arid lands as a problem of increasing concern to society that has implications for three critical areas – food, energy, and population. The authors look at the cultural, political, and economic factors that affect both the opportunities and the constraints in arid zone development, and the difficult policy choices to be faced.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1975-1977
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Yair Mundlak (Hebrew University) and S. Fred Singer (University of Virginia)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Arid Zone Development: Potentialities and Problems” eds. Yair Mundlak and S. Fred Singer. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1977. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Sidney R. and Esther V. Rabb Foundation, Stop and Shop Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  
  
• International Arrangements for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing: From the beginning of the atomic age, nuclear energy and nuclear weapons have been interconnected. Every country that acquires a reactor has taken a step, at least potentially, toward nuclear weapons capability, despite the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968. Therefore, the spread of reprocessing facilities under the control of countries not now possessing nuclear weapons has become a matter of international concern and controversy. The Academy co-sponsored a multidisciplinary symposium focused on the technical, political, and economic issues surrounding multinational control of the nuclear reactor fuel cycle. The resulting volume evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of placing reprocessing facilities under international or multinational control.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1975-1977
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Abram Chayes (Harvard Law School) and W. Bennett Lewis (Queens University, Kingston, Ontario)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “International Arrangements for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing,” eds. Abram Chayes and W. Bennett Lewis. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Co., 1977. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Mr. Cyrus Eaton through the Pugwash Parks Commission, Canadian Department of Public Affairs
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: Canadian and American Pugwash committees
  
  
• Human Diversity: Human diversity is an enormous cultural and biological resource and a source of social and political tension. The Academy convened a group of scholars to address the controversy over the relative roles of genetics and environment in determining human capacities and behavior. The authors review evolutionary theory and its implications for diversity within a species as well as the relevant aspects of genetics. Although it is difficult to reconcile the ethical and political norms of equality with scientific observations of diversity, the authors attempt to clarify the relationship as well as some of the social implications of human diversity.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1971-1976
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Bernard D. Davis (Harvard Medical School)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Human Diversity: Its Causes and Social Significance,” eds. Bernard D. Davis and Patricia Flaherty. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1976. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Rockefeller Foundation, American Academy
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
  
  
• New Directions in Arms Control: By the early 1970s, much of the conceptual base for arms control efforts remained grounded in the Academy’s 1960 project and special issue of Dædalus on arms control. Little attention had been given to questions about the basic purpose of arms control efforts in light of substantial changes, such as growing détente, in military technology and the political context over the previous 10 years. In 1972, an Academy steering committee organized a study on new directions in arms control. Participants critically reviewed past developments and future trends in the evolution of military technology, strategic doctrine, domestic and economic determinants of arms policies, and the impact of international political developments and international negotiations upon arms decisions.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1972-1975
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Franklin A. Long (Cornell University) and George Rathjens (MIT)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Arms, Defense Policy, and Arms Control,” eds. Franklin A. Long and George Rathjens. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc. 1975. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Sloan Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: Johnson Foundation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  
  
• The Future of the Submarine-based Deterrent : This project responded to growing concern over new developments in the Soviet-American nuclear competition. The Academy convened a conference to examine the emerging belief that the present second-strike, and thus deterrent, capabilities of missile-carrying nuclear submarines could be eroded by technological advances in strategic antisubmarine warfare. If so, this would threaten the stability between the U.S. and the Soviet Union created by the then-new 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, and initiate a new spiral in the arms race. The resulting book examines the various aspects of the future of the sea-based deterrent to insure that future discussions of these issues can be undertaken intelligently by specialists and laymen.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1972-1973
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Kosta Tsipis, Anne H. Cahn, and Bernard T. Feld (all from MIT)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “The Future of the Sea-Based Deterrent,” eds. Kosta Tsipis, Anne H. Cahn and Bernard T. Feld. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1973. Available from publisher.
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  
  
• Human Values, Systems Analysis, and the Environment: At the heart of environmental decision-making lies the tension between economic growth and efficiency and values such as preserving nature, ecological balance, and the love of natural beauty and wilderness. The Academy gathered together a multidisciplinary group of scholars to design what project chairman Murray Gell-Mann described as “systems analysis with a heart.” The result was a study of environmental decision-making that focused on the theoretical aspects of the decision-making process, and examined policy analysis and decision-making in the particular case study of the Tocks Island Dam in New Jersey. As the project progressed, it became evident that issues of competing values were relevant to other major public policy decisions and that the resulting volumes would be useful to decision makers in other policy areas increasingly significant in our society, such as highway safety or health care.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1970-1976
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Murray Gell-Mann (California Institute of Technology)
  RESULTING PUBLICATIONS:
  “When Values Conflict: Essays on Environmental Analysis, Discourse, and Decision,” eds. Laurence H. Tribe, Corinne S. Schelling, and John Voss. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1976. (out of print)
  
  “Boundaries of Analysis: An Inquiry into the Tocks Island Dam (NJ) Controversy,” eds. Harold A. Feiveson, Frank W. Sinden and Robert H. Socolow. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1976. (out of print)
  
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: National Science Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Princeton University Center for Environmental Studies
  
  
• The History of Recent Science and Technology: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Academy organized several conferences and studies devoted to the history, origin and development of fields of research, such as physics, molecular biology, and bioenergetics. These meetings brought together historians, social scientists, and scientists who themselves played a leading role in their fields. A committee was formed to coordinate and oversee a more systematic and long-range program of historical studies in contemporary science and technology.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1970-1975
  COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Gerald Holton (Harvard University)
  RESULTING PUBLICATIONS:
  “Proceedings of the Conference on the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,” ed. John Edsall. Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1970. (out of print)
  
  “Exploring the History of Nuclear Physics,” ed. Charles Weiner. New York: American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, No. 7, 1972. (out of print)
  
  “The Historical Development of Bioenergetics,” ed. John Edsall. Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1973. (out of print)
  
  “Evolution of Modern Mathematics,” ed. Garrett Birkhoff, Historia Mathematica, Volume 2, November 1975. Available from publisher.
  
  “The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology,” eds. Ernst Mayr and William B. Provine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980. Available from publisher.
  
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: National Science Foundation, American Academy
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: American Institute of Physics
  
  
• International Foundation for Science: As the economic and technological gap between the developed nations and the developing world widened in the 1960s, a need for homegrown scientific research and development in Third World countries was identified. In view of this problem, the American Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, and other scientific organizations considered the feasibility of establishing an International Foundation for Science, which would support the research of young scientists and technical investigators in developing countries in much the same way that the National Science Foundation assisted research in the United States. In 1970, steps were taken to launch the IFS under the auspices of a consortium of national academies of science and scientific societies. On May 26, 1972, the Foundation was formally established as a nongovernmental organization in Stockholm, with the Academy as a member organization. The Foundation’s aim was to promote fundamental and applied research by indigenous scientists in developing countries, in the fields of natural, medical, agricultural, social, and behavioral sciences and technology. The International Foundation for Science is governed by an international board of trustees and continues to exist today. Go to the IFS website.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1970-1972
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Detlev Bronk (National Academy of Sciences)
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Pugwash Committee, United Nations Advisory Committee for the Application of Science and Technology to Development, UNESCO, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and 16 scientific organizations from countries across the globe
  
  
• International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology: The Academy was instrumental in the establishment in 1970 of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal of the ICIPE is to develop more effective and less dangerous pesticides through a greater understanding of insect biology. In February 2004, the Institute added a semi-autonomous division, the Southern Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, dedicated to legal and policy research. Together, the two institutes are able to comprehensively realize both the scientific and policy aspects of ICIPE’s goal, which is to develop insect management tools that will help ensure a healthy populace. Go to the ICIPE website.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1970-1978
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Roger Revelle (University of California, San Diego) and Carl Djerassi (Stanford University)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, Research Corporation of New York, Allen Foundation, American Academy, United States Agency for International Development
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: National Academy of Sciences, East African Academy, Israeli Academy of Sciences and the Humanities, Royal Netherlands Academy, Royal Society of London, Max Planck Society
  
  

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