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Article

What physicists can do in Washington

AUG 01, 1977
Following their increasing involvement in government affairs since World War I, both on the domestic and international scenes, what will scientists’ role be in the future?
William A. Nierenberg

The history of physicists in Washington is now well into its fourth phase. During World War I the interaction between science and government seemed to be on an individual basis; when I was a beginning graduate student at Columbia, I appreciated the fact that many of my professors had served as naval officers in the war, many of them in areas involving mine warfare. Of course scientific input was wider, but it did not have the organized structure that we are accustomed to today. The pattern was that of a physicist in uniform.

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More about the authors

William A. Nierenberg, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 30, Number 8

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