Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
logical effects of substances like mustard gas, chlorine gas, lewisite, and
toxic smokes.
56
That episode demonstrates how much the scientific establishment's
acceptance of popularization had changed. Many historians, myself
among them, have long pointed to chemists' outrage at the news cover-
age of poison gas after World War I and have assumed that such outrage
not only fueled their postwar campaigns to improve chemistry's public
image but also left many scientific leaders leery of certain types of popu-
larization. By 1939, however, an organization praised and supported by
scientists, including the most prominent chemists of the time, was dis-
cussing poison gas research on its Saturday afternoon radio program and
doing so without any apparent defensiveness. This circumstance suggests
that the scientific establishment had embraced a more pragmatic accep-
tance of media attention, perhaps seeing participation in such communi-
cation as potentially useful in attracting economic and political support,
as a necessary evil rather than an enemy of science's cause.
Several other late 1939 broadcasts sounded celebratory notes about
chemistry and its contribution to national self-sufficiency and defense.
Sidney D. Kirkpatrick, editor of
Chemical and Metallurgical Engineer-
ing
, assured listeners on December 4 that “America now has a chemical
industry second to none […] we are more nearly self-sufficient from a
chemical standpoint”.
57
And on December 25, Davis opened his annual
'Review of the Year' program by wishing listeners “A Merry and Scien-
tific Christmas” and giving a “scientific balance sheet, to judge what has
been important and significant”.
58
“Long after the war of 1939 is forgot-
ten,” he explained, “the splitting of the uranium atom with release of en-
ergy, hinting practical production of power from within the atom, may be
listed as the year's outstanding achievement.” Davis then listed science's
ten major contributions to American health and households, including
“Number 6 […] The success of the chemical sulfapyradine in treatment
56
Bulletin for 'Adventures in Science' broadcast of November 13, 1939; SIA RU7091,
Box 386, Folder 2.
57
'Adventures in Science' script for December 4, 1939, p. 3; SIA RU7091, Box 386,
Folder 6.
58
'Adventures in Science' script for December 25, 1939; SIA RU7091, Box 386,
Folder 10.
