Science and the State From the Scientific Revolution to World War II

Was it coincidence that the modern state and modern science arose at the same time? This overview of the relations of science and state from the Scientific Revolution to World War II explores this issue, synthesising a range of approaches from history and political theory. John Gascoigne argues the case for an ongoing mutual dependence of the state and science in ways which have promoted the consolidation of both. Drawing on a wide body of scholarship, he shows how the changing functions of the state have brought a wider engagement with science, while the possibilities that science make available have increased the authority of the state along with its prowess in war. At the end of World War II, the alliance between science and state was securely established and, Gascoigne argues, is still firmly embodied in the post-war world.

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The Renaissance monarchy; 3. Absolutism; 4. Rivals to absolutism; 5. Revolution, reaction and reform, 1776–1850; 6. An expanding state, 1850–1914; 7. From war to war, 1914–45; 8. Science, the state and globalisation; Epilogue; Conclusion.

John Gascoigne, Emeritus Professor, taught history at the University of New South Wales from 1980 until 2016. His previous books include Encountering the Pacific in the Age of the Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2014), which won the NSW Premier's General History Prize in 2014, and Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, the British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, 1998).