Ending Scientific Isolation
JR., BEN JOSEPHSON
Ending Scientific Isolation Atoms for the World. By Laura Fermi. Reviewed by Ben Josephson Jr Chicago. 227 pp. $3.75. Physicist; graduate student at MIT The International Conference on the...
...What disturbs me about this perfectly nice book is that it comes after years of uncertainty about the role of science in our democracy, and on the heels of other equally well-written volumes which cater to public curiosity about science and scientists and do very little to afford any concrete basis for a knowledgable attitude toward science on the part of laymen...
...graduate student at MIT The International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy —the Geneva Conference of 1955— was admittedly of tremendous interest to scientists throughout the world...
...It is not a bad book, mind you...
...Fermi's engaging tale...
...Considered as such, I wonder whether a book of this sort does not tend to exaggerate the significance of this conference, for it was a milestone only in the sense that it got the ball rolling again after years of unnatural separation...
...Fermi thinks would be of general interest...
...It is largely a question of perspective...
...The search is on for a better understanding of the scientist and the ways in which he practices his profession...
...This is all to the good, but the book makes me somewhat uneasy...
...I sincerely hope wo never do...
...But such conferences and meetings are the lifeblood of a vigorous science, and the rule rather than the exception...
...it is charmingly written, only rarely ponderous, and quite readable...
...Atoms in the Family, will deny her way with the language...
...I do not doubt that most New Leader readers followed the accounts of the conference in the public press...
...The Geneva Conference was not really a noteworthy departure from tradition, but rather a return to a tradition far older than the one of isolation practiced for the last two decades by East and West...
...Since this was certainly one of the most extensively and intensively reported conferences in the history of science, they must have gotten a fairly comprehensive picture of the proceedings, the preparations, the difficulties involved, and at least a taste of the personalities of many of the scientists participating...
...Because the physical and political sciences are no longer mutually exclusive areas, the people of this country must eventually acquire enough understanding of the requirements and even the philosophy of science to insure the solution of problems arising when these formerly disparate fields overlap...
...She wisely does not attempt even an unofficial history...
...Certainly the Geneva Conference was a considerable achievement, involving great effort on the part of many men in many countries...
...No one who has read Mrs...
...People may eventually get the idea that all they need to know about science and scientists is contained in these works, and then we are likely to find ourselves in a very unpleasant position...
...Consequently, I can find no concrete grounds for anything more than polite interest in this book...
...She writes for people and not for posterity, and does not feel obligated to chronicle every detail and mention every participant...
...It is worthy of note and those who contributed to it are deserving of honor...
...This book is a "story" of the conference: an attempt to convey those aspects of the conference and the preparations for it which Mrs...
Vol. 40 • August 1957 • No. 34
