Reviews
This is one of those rare books that historians and sociologists of science will use for a very long time as a valuable resource... Toby A. Appel's is a compelling and important story, written with a sense of humor and humanity.
Appel has done a remarkable job. No subsequent historical work on NSF and the biological sciences can begin without building on the solid foundation she provides in Shaping Biology.
Toby Appel does a thorough, scholarly job of bringing to life... the National Science Foundation.
This path-breaking book on the National Science Foundation (NSF) represents the first detailed empirical study of this agency in the making of 'policy' for the life sciences in the United States since 1945.
Based on previously unexamined archival sources, Appel's analysis is clearly presented and well documented. She provides critical policy context for NSF decisions in biology by discussing their elevance to NIH, other federal agencies, and both national and international political events.
Shaping Biology will interest historians of science, biologists, anyone who has dealt with NSF, anyone who has worked there, and anyone interested in American science policy since World War II, because so much of what is written on that topic is focused on NSF. It was especially refreshing to see Vannevar Bush and the origins of NSF from the point of view of biology, because just about everything written on him and the founding is all about the history of physics. The book is clearly written and incorporates research from previously unused collections.
Book Details
List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Envisioning a Federal Patron for Biology
Chapter 1. Making a Place for Biology at the "Endless Frontier," 1945–1950
Chapter 2. Fashioning a New
List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Envisioning a Federal Patron for Biology
Chapter 1. Making a Place for Biology at the "Endless Frontier," 1945–1950
Chapter 2. Fashioning a New Federal Patron for Biology, 1950–1952
Chapter 3. Expanding and Experimenting in the 1950s
Chapter 4. Government Relations and Policy-Making in the Cold War Era
Chapter 5. Competing Within a Pluralist Federal Funding System, 1952–1963
Chapter 6. Funding Individuals and Institutions in the 1960s: Opportunities and Constraints
Chapter 7. Promoting Big Biology: Biotrons, Boats, and National Biological Laboratories
Chapter 8. Allocating Resources to a Divided Science: The "New" and the "Old" in Biology
Chapter 9. Forging New Directions After the Golden Age, 1968–1972
Chapter 10. End of an Era, 1972–1975
Appendixes
Notes
Note of NSF Primary Sources
Index