SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25732, 18 February 1949, Page 8

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

DISCUSSION BY CONGRESS During the war it had been shown that scientists in the services and in civilian offices had worked with success at a policy level without using any of their special technical knowledge. said Dr. H. R. Hulme, rector of Canterbury University College, last evening, when a public meeting of the Pacific Science Congress discussed the social implications of science. Dr. Hulme felt that the success of scientists was. caused by their scientific method and the fact that they were not emotionally concerned with the problems they tackled. By and large, it was easy for anyone to produce a rational answer if his pocket or his emotions were not affected. A major function of the university must be to train students to think impartially on any subject, Dr. Hulme said. All four speakers from the platform referred to the use of science in war and Dr, Hulme said that in the long run science produced more good than harm. Calling a halt to science, as was suggested by some, would not produce peace and agreement between nations. Professor P. W. Burbidge. professor of physics at Auckland University College, said that the value of internationalism in science was that opinions could be exchanged, but on the other hand scientists to-day lived in a world of power politics and national security had to be considered. A pooling of resources among scientists to achieve a common aim throughout the world was suggested by Dr. R. A. Silow, a British geneticist, as the duty of science to society, and Professor K. A. Ryerson, leader +u United States delegation, said that pure and applied sciences were not really divided but a unity, and science as a unity must strive to make the world better. Scientists had a great job ahead, he said, and must have faith that their, job was worth while.