1st Edition
Science and Spectacle The Work of Jodrell Bank in Postwar British Culture
By John Agar
Copyright 1998
284 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Science and Spectacle relates the construction of the telescope to the politics and culture of post-war Britain. From radar and atomic weapons, to the Festival of Britain and, later, Harold Wilson's rhetoric of scientific revolution, science formed a cultural resource from which post-war careers and a national identity could be built. The Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope was once a symbol of British science and a much needed prestigious project for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but it also raised questions regarding the proper role of universities as sites for scientific research.
Chapter 1 Science in Post-war Britain; Chapter 2 Funding a Spectacle of Science; Chapter 3 ‘A Great Public Spectacle’: Prestige, Position and Power at Jodrell Bank; Chapter 4 Clearing the Air (Waves): Interference and Frequency Allocation for Radio Astronomy; Chapter 5 Clearing the Ground: Bodily Control, the Radio Telescope and its Environment; Chapter 6 Conclusion: a Spectacle of Science;
Biography
Jon Agar