Vitenskap for politikk – om bidrag til matkontroll og matforsyning

Abstract

This article explores the supply of knowledge from science to politics during the first half of the 20th century. During a time when ministries for many fields of policy had few resources, the state made use of experts from different institutions. We investigate the contribution from one such expert, Sigval Schmidt-Nielsen (1877-1956), who was professor of chemistry at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH). Schmidt-Nielsen contributed to the development of legislation for food control and to the handling of challenges with food supply during and after the First World War. He executed tasks for several ministries, while practicing as scientist at the technical institute. We draw on texts related to control and supply of food. Through the analysis of such texts, we identify which roles and values were brought from science into the realm of public administration. This expert knowledge was supplied over the course of four decades to the health authorities as well as to authorities within agriculture and trade. We argue that investigations into relations between science and policy will benefit from specific studies of the specific knowledge deliveries, the actors involved and of the relevant contexts.