Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen

TY - ABST

T1 - ‘For the nation as a whole and for each individual in it’

T2 - European Society for the History of Science

AU - Nielsen, Kristian Hvidtfelt

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - The Royal Society’s 1985 report on public understanding of science resulted from the work of an ad hoc group established in April 1983 under Walter F. Bodmer. The Society’s interest in public understanding of science grew out of continuing concerns over low recruitment into the science and engineering sectors and over failing public and political support of basic research since the introduction of market-based approaches to scientific governance in the 1970’s. The report argued that public understanding of science was fundamental to society. Better public understanding of science would boost national economy, improve the quality of public and private decision-making, and enrich the lives of individual citizens. Public understanding of science, Vice-President D.C. Smith concluded in the preface, is an issue ‘that is important not only, or even mainly, for the scientific community but also for the nation as a whole and for each individual within it.’ Based on published sources and archival material, this paper places the report’s broad understanding of public understanding of science as well as its various recommendations to the scientific community, the educational system, the mass media, industry, museums, and government in a historical context. Key contextual elements to be addressed include prior changes to British science policy and the deliberations of the members of the ad hoc group as they forged the Royal Society’s views on public understanding of science.

AB - The Royal Society’s 1985 report on public understanding of science resulted from the work of an ad hoc group established in April 1983 under Walter F. Bodmer. The Society’s interest in public understanding of science grew out of continuing concerns over low recruitment into the science and engineering sectors and over failing public and political support of basic research since the introduction of market-based approaches to scientific governance in the 1970’s. The report argued that public understanding of science was fundamental to society. Better public understanding of science would boost national economy, improve the quality of public and private decision-making, and enrich the lives of individual citizens. Public understanding of science, Vice-President D.C. Smith concluded in the preface, is an issue ‘that is important not only, or even mainly, for the scientific community but also for the nation as a whole and for each individual within it.’ Based on published sources and archival material, this paper places the report’s broad understanding of public understanding of science as well as its various recommendations to the scientific community, the educational system, the mass media, industry, museums, and government in a historical context. Key contextual elements to be addressed include prior changes to British science policy and the deliberations of the members of the ad hoc group as they forged the Royal Society’s views on public understanding of science.

UR - http://eshs2018.uk/sunday/

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 14 September 2018 through 17 September 2018

ER -