The scientists go to war: revisiting precept and practice, 19141919

Abstract

Within the period 191419, the image of western science underwent a major transformation. In each of the belligerent countries, men of science abandoned their commitment to traditional values of internationality and communality values which, whilst often honoured more in the breach than in the observance, had served as ideals for over a century. Crusading, often against entrenched opposition from their own political and military leaders, scientists on both sides led the struggle to apply science to the war effort. In so doing, they won both praise and blame. Praise, for their patriotic application to military demands; blame, for the terrible consequences that ensued. This paper traces the principal features of this changing landscape, as seen particularly through the experience of leading scientific intellectuals, and asks whether science, as Max Weber argued, could ever be value-free.

Keywords:

• scientists
• internationalism
• Great War
• Max Weber
• science as vocation