1983 - Sir John Adams - Scientists and Statesmen

In this lecture Sir John Adams looked at the relationships between scientists and politicians or civil servants. Up to World War II, he argued that the two groups existed relatively independently. However, after the end of the war statesmen become increasingly interested in putting public money into scientific endeavours, causing them to be heavily involved with each other. Using his experiences at CERN, he showed how this relationship developed from the first proposal to create this international research institute in Europe in 1949. He referred to the political problems arising from choosing locations for later projects, especially when the post-war boom began to slow down. He noted that because the scientists came from similar university background with shared experiences, they would normally be the ones who had the unity to take the initiative to lobby European governments for new equipment. He also noted that civil servants would often be associated with CERN projects over many years, creating long-term continuity in state governments. This would change their interests, making them more likely to support project. This was the opposite for politicians, who having relatively short terms would only be involved for major decisions. He concluded by making some recommendations based on his experiences.