Science and defence

Abstract

Science is a comparatively recent thing in man's history, and newer still is its cultivation on an organized scale and its large scale application in peace and war. As everyone now knows, science is an immensely powerful thing. It has profoundly altered man's material environment and it has even altered his pattern of thinking and his sense of values. It has deeply affected the way we look at the world and its problems. It has given new meaning to old problems-including the problem of living and life itself-and it has raised a host of new ones. In all civilized countries, science (-but not always, and not necessarily, scientists-) enjoys tremendous prestige, and people have great hope and faith in its power of doing good, and there is also the fear that this power may not wisely used. And, all this has taken place in the amazingly short period of about three centuries.