The Cold War Hot House for Modeling Strategies at the Carnegie Institute of Technology

The last two decades have witnessed a revival of research interest in the Cold War, and on science during the Cold War, from a revised social theoretic perspective.1 Part of this reframing is evident in explorations of the relationship underpinning the Cold War discourse and modernisation theory. Drawing on this new turn, this article switches the register to the first decades of decolonisation, and revisits the establishment of elite institutes of engineering and engineering science, such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, in order to understand the consequences of the entanglement of the Cold War discourse with decolonisation on higher technological education in India in the 1950s. The article argues that within the realm of technological or engineering science education, across the Cold War divide, the globalisation of higher technological education or the ‘Americanization of higher education’ as Krige calls it, is evident, as much at the elite IITs in India as elsewhere.

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From a "Dead Albatross" to Lincoln Labs: Applied Research and the Making of a Normal Cold War University

Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences ◽

10.1525/hsns.2012.42.4.255 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 255-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rebecca Slayton

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Applied Research ◽

Massachusetts Institute ◽

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽

Science And Engineering ◽

Fundamental Research ◽

Institute Of Technology ◽

Research And Education ◽

Education Administrators ◽

The Cold War

Large, military-funded, applied research laboratories became a common and controversial feature of Cold War academe. This paper examines the origins and first twelve years of Lincoln Labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with two primary purposes. First, it extends our understanding of who encouraged the rise of large laboratories in the Cold War academy, when controversy over these changes arose, and why. Second, it ties academic efforts to privilege theoretical over applied forms of education and research, to academic concerns about competing with industry for military funding. By defining a "normal" MIT in terms of fundamental research and education, administrators sought to negotiate the rapidly changing institutional environments for Cold War science and engineering.

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Project Vista, Caltech, and the dilemmas of Lee DuBridge

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences ◽

10.1525/hsps.2004.34.2.339 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 339-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

W. PATRICK McCRAY

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Air Force ◽

Local Level ◽

Detailed Examination ◽

California Institute ◽

California Institute Of Technology ◽

History Of ◽

Institute Of Technology ◽

Soviet Invasion ◽

The Cold War

ABSTRACT: In the summer of 1951, more than one hundred scientists and other academics participated in Project Vista, a secret study hosted by the California Institute of Technology. Its purpose was to determine how existing technologies as well as ones soon to be available——tactical nuclear weapons, in particular——could offset NATO's weaker conventional forces and repel a massive Soviet invasion of Europe many perceived as likely if not imminent. Despite the best efforts of scientists like William Fowler, Lee DuBridge, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Vista's recommendations were eventually suppressed by the Air Force. This article examines the history of Project Vista as a circumstance of the early Cold War period. By focusing primarily on the local level, the article presents a detailed examination of how people were recruited to Project Vista, how their work was organized and managed, and the relations between Caltech's administration and trustees. Finally, this article considers the history of postwar universities as they struggled to adapt to the Cold War environment and scientists' efforts to provide counsel to the U.S. government and military.

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