Social Structure of Science

The social dynamic of the science world or any world for that matter is an interesting construct. There is a social hierarchy that can be seen in all groups but it is very interesting to look back on the critical decisions and discoveries of our time and see how those relationships between individuals and groups may have impacted those decisions and made discoveries possible.

Our simulations were a great experience in my opinion and a great opportunity to get an idea of how people may have interacted at the time. One of the first social patterns I notice about our simulation is the formation of groups or alliances. My character, Leo Szilard, was an immigrant and one of three scientists that made up what was known as the "Hungarian conspiracy". All of these scientists were immigrants and all had very similar views on how they wanted to proceed to get funding for atomic research as well as what they would like to happen because of the research. They wanted to obtain the nuclear bomb first before Hitler, not to have the weapon for destruction, but to prevent destruction. My character Szilard was very much a proponent of peace. One of the opposing sides was the military, whom were very skeptical of the even possible uses of nuclear energy. Basically, it was the scientists against the government. The government held the power so the scientists needed to convince them it would be worth their while to even pursue this type of research. Basically, the social and institutional structures go together, you must have one to have the other. To receive grants and get funding you must have the social contacts to make it happen. As the old saying goes, "It's all about who you know." Case in point, to even make the meeting for the Atomic bomb simulation happen, it took years of development and communication (or lack of communication). If you do not come to the institution with some credibility to back up what you are asking for, they will likely not even listen. The scientists knew this, so they tried to make themselves as appealing and well connected as possible. Knowing Alexander Sachs was very handy, as he had direct connections to the President of the United States. Sachs also was very willing to help; he was a critical "bridge" between the two social groups of scientists and the government. Arming Sachs with the letter from one of most well known scientists even at that time was another great and needed move to get the institutions attention to the matter. There is an infinite number of things that go into these types of interactions that make them a success, I have only mentioned a few from this particular simulation that I felt were critical components to this and most events of its kind. One other interesting thing to note was during our in class discussion it was funny how the groups seemed to sit by each other somewhat unknowingly, we had the Hungarian conspiracy together, the military together, critics as well. Just an observation I recall standing out that seemed humorous that we were more realistically recreating a scenario than I expected.

Our continental drift simulation had a lot of the same dynamics. Again, my character in particular Maurice Ewing somewhat had his own group. He was from a fixist point of view, and as more and more information became available that made his theory more doubtful he surrounded himself with other scientists who thought the same. Because he was basically the head scientist at his university and founder of the Lamont research facility he could