Churchill’s Scientists

Fascinating exhibition at the Science Museum looking at Winston Churchill’s interest in and use of science during the Second World War and in his post war government and the legacy that left.

I’d popped to see this exhibition as I was passing and, as I’m sure you can tell, I never let a show go unvisited! I thought it would be an overview of Second World War military discoveries and a bit boring however it was fascinating. The sheer breath of war time scientific projects was amazing from the obvious things like radar and the atom bomb to nutritional research and the use of penicillin.

Churchill was the first Prime Minister to have a scientific adviser, Frederick Lindemann, to help him understand and investigate new ideas.  He also had a policy of getting scientists from different arenas together through the universities and London clubs to generate new ideas and stimulate debate.

I found the post war section really interesting about how the war had built scientists confidence and they had become used to having government money to spend on big projects. They had also built up a range of contracts in scientific circles and government. I realised that my parents, who both got PhDs in scientific subjects in the early 1950s, were the beneficiaries of this and also part of this science boom.

The show introduced me to a wonderful cast of characters which two charts showing the main players and their fields with photographs of them. It made me want to dig out biographies of them and find out more, particularly people like Beryl Power who masterminded a Central Register of Scientists at the start of the war which enabled links to be made between people.

 

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