Current Scientific and Technological Issues

revised and updated 24/07/05

We list these in groups in order of date of original publication. The grouping is subject to change as the list develops. Those listed here would perhaps be of interest in an institutional 'science and society' context, coded 7? Or perhaps additional RDS material, code 1, if the RDS take up this as an active role? Such a location could perhaps develop in a 'development economics' environment which had opened up to the consideration of the role of scientific technology in economic development, the 'core/fringe' and brain-drain problems in post-colonial transition situations etc. There may also be some interest from the Labour History domain, coded 5, via the Marxist dimension.

'Science and Society' critical periodicals, quarterlies etc; attic 1.1L

Crane Bag Vol 7 #2 1983 has my paper on the British Association meetings in Ireland.

1? World Watch papers: 112 indigenous peoples, 113 trade, 119 electrical, 120 marine, 121 materials, 122 disarmamant.

Technology Ireland: I have 3 copies of the Jan 1978 issue which contains my 'Technology and Economy' paper produced for Patrick Lynch.

Science, general: attic, case 1, shelf 2L

Many of this group interested the RDS in its 'science and society' resource role, and have been boxed; see below box 3.
Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel; Banesh Hoffmann & Helen Dukas, Hart-Davis, McGibbon, London, 1973.
Evolution from Space; F Hoyle & NC Wickramsinghe, Dent 1981.
1,6? Concise Dictionary of Scientists; D Millar et al, Chambers / U Cambridge 1989. Irish Scientist year-books; C Mollan (ed), 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 1995, 1994.
Einstein 1905: the Standard of Greatness; John S Rigden, Harvard UP 2005.
Simon Winchester; Bomb, Book & Compass: Joseph Needham and China; Viking, London 2008. (temp missing)

Technology, general; attic, case 1, shelf 2R

Many of this group also interest the RDS in its 'science and society' resource role; see Box 3 below.
Alternative Technology and the Politics of Technical Change; David Dickson, Fontana/Collins, 1974.
Project Cancelled; Derek Wood; Macdonald & Jane's, London, 1975; reviewed by RJ, Irish Democrat, circa Feb 1976.
New and Improved: Inventors and Inventions... ; R Baker, British Museum 1976.
Industrial Research in Britain; ed TI Williams, Francis Hodgson, 8th edition 1976.
The Soul of a New Machine; Tracey Kidder, Allen Lane, 1981-2.
EnCYCLEopedia; Bike Culture 3; 1994/5.
3. Eco-Miminalism; Howard Liddell; RIBA 2008.
3. Sustainable Energy - without the hot air; David JC MacKay; UIT, Cambridge, 2009.

History, philosophy & politics of science; Attic, case 1, shelf 3L

Some of these also have gone to the RDS in its 'science and society' resource role; see Box 3 below.
The Universe of Science; H Levy, Watts, London, 1932; Hollander Collection.
What is Life? Erwin Schroedinger, Cambridge UP 1945.
Military and Political Consequences of Atomic Energy; PMS Blackett, Turnstile Press, London, 1948.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (authored or related):
. Letters from a Traveller, Fontana/Collins 1956-67;
. Le Milieu Divin: an essay on the interior life, Fontana/Collins 1957-66;
. The Future of Man; Fontana/Collins, 1959-74.

Beyond the Ivory Tower: the Frontiers of Public and Private Science; Sir Solly Zuckermann,
. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1970.
What is Science For? Bernard Dixon, Collins 1973.
by Richard P Feynman:
. "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman"; WW Norton, 1985; Vintage 1992.
. "What do you care what other people think?" Unwin Hyman, 1988.
The Unnatural Nature of Science; Lewis Volpert, Faber & Faber, 1992.


Science in the USSR; attic, case 1, shelf 3R

1? Most of these could perhaps also interest the RDS in its 'science and society' resource role, if it evolves in the direction of global science politics, in the analysis of the post-USSR situation.
The Situation in Biological Science (proc Lenin Acad Ag Sci, 1948); Foreign Language Publishing, Moscow, 1949.
. The above is the record of the notorious Lysenko take-over which poisoned the politics of subsequent decades.
The Medvedev Papers: the Plight of Soviet Science Today; ZA Medvedev, Macmillan St Martins Press, 1971.
R&D in Social Reproduction; A Nikolayev, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975.
The Scientific Intelligentsia in the USSR; ed DM Gvishiani, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976.
Science and Technology Policy; ed Joseph Haberer (Purdue), Lexington Books, 1977.
The Technological Level of Soviet Industry; R Amann, JM Cooper, RW Davies; Yale UP, 1977.
Soviet Science; Zhores A Medvedev, Oxford UP, 1979.
The Makings of a Soviet Scientist; Roald Z Sagdeev, Wiley 1996.


Boxed for delivery to the RDS:

I am indebted to Gerard Whelan of the RDS library for drawing my attention to this important publication, which deserves a European analogue, perhaps sponsored by the Euroscience network.
1. EASTS (East Asia Science Technology in Society; NSC Taiwan 2008-9.
This is temorarily retained pending some ongoing contact.

Box RJ/RDS 2 (series 2)

1. Science as Culture; I have a nearly complete run of this from its inception in 1987 up to 1997, when I abandoned it. I did a review of the Sobel-Sicilia Entrepreneurs for it in Issue 6, 1988, in some depth, as it seemed to me to be a significant book, but the editor Les Levidov cut it back seriously, and in an ensuing correspondence there emerged a lack of rapport. I found on the whole that over the decade I was unable to relate meaningfully to its policy. This opinion is perhaps worthy of retrospective review. RJ 05/06/05.

1. Planet 110 Apr/May 1995 has my paper on science in Wales, and
1. New York Acad Sci 'Science in Society' series: 1996 Oct, Dec; 1997 Feb, Apr, July.

1. Tableau: published by Cork RTC as an annual science+arts compilation from 1996 edited by June O'Reilly;
I have issues 1, 2 and 3; Issue 2 contains my own '
guest editorial'.

1. Science, Technology and Human Values: Sage quarterly, Autumn 1994.
Institute of Physics and American Inst P historical newsletters, from circa 1993, with misc historical reprints.

1. Science and Global Security (a joint USA-USSR publication, Sagdeev / von Hippel, perhaps there is a Pugwash connection), I have 2 issues, 1989 and 1990.


Box RJ/RDS 3 (series 2)

1. The Descent of Man; Charles Darwin 1871, Watts, London, 1930-45.
1. Dialectics of Nature; Frederick Engels 1882, Lawrence & Wishart, 1940-46.
1. The Crisis in Physics; Christopher Caudwell, intro by Hyman Levy, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1939-49.
1. Teach Yourself Good Farming; VC Fishwick; H&S for English UP 1944.
1. Atomic Energy; the Smyth Report; HMSO 1945.
1. The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia; B Hessen, Current Books,Sydney, 1946;
. London 1931 History of Science conference paper.
1. Congres International sur le Rayonnement Cosmique; Bagneres de Bigorre 1953; associated supplement also:
1. Recueil des Travaux de l'Observatoire du Pic-du-Midi, collecting all time-variation papers.
1. Scientists in Organizations; DC Pelz & FM Andrews, Wiley, New York, 1966.
1. Science and Life: Essays of a Rationalist; JBS Haldane, Pemberton, London, 1968.
1. Systems Thinking; ed FE Emery, Penguin 1969.
1. Technological Forecasting; Gordon Wills et al; Penguin 1972.
1. Science at the Crossroads; Herbert Dingle, Martin Brian & O'Keefe, London, 1972.
1. God is not yet dead; Vitezslav Gardavsky; Pelican 1973.
1. The Harvest of the Quiet Eye (scientific quotations); AL Mackay, ed M Ebison, Inst of Physics, 1977.
1. Methane Generation from Human, Animal and Agricultural Wastes; Nat Acad Sci, Washington DC, 1977.
1. La Nouvelle Alliance: Metamorphose de la Science; I Prigogine & I Stengers, Gallimard, 1979.
1. Energy for Rural Development; National Academy Press, Washington, 1981.
1. More Random Walks in Science; RL Weber (ed); Institute of Physics, 1982.
1. John Seymour; The Forgotten Arts; Guild, for National Trust, London 1984.
1. Marxism and the Philosophy of Science; Helena Sheehan, Humanities Press International, 1985 (paperback 1993)
1. Bio-technology: the University-Industrial Complex; Martin Kenney, Yale UP, 1986.
1. The Entrepreneurs: an American Adventurel R Sobel & DB Sicilia, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1986;
. RJ review exists in 'Science as Culture 6'.
1. From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture; H Norberg-Hodge et al; Zed Books 1993.
1. Near-Earth Objects; ed JL Remo; UN conference report; NY Acad Sci 1997.
See 'science and society in Ireland' for remainder of box 3.



[To Overview]


Some navigational notes:

In general, if you click on the 'Back' button it will bring to to the point of departure in the module from which you came; this may be different from those listed at the bottom. Even if the module from which you came is listed at the bottom, it is still preferable to use the 'back' button, because the explicit bottom-of-page hot-spot will return you to the beginning of the module, and you will have to scroll down to get back to where you were.