The Golden Fleece, Science Education, And U.S. Science Policy

The Golden Fleece, Science Education, and U.S. Science Policy November 1997 I was pleased to accept Roger Hahn’s kind invitation to partici- pate in this colloquium series. It gave me an opportunity to re- think some events I was associated with at the National Science Foundation [NSF] in the 1970s. I would like to review briefly U.S. science policy since World War II from the perspective of the National Science Foundation, and in particular from the narrower perspective of science education and the social sci- ences at NSF. This is a personal account, not a scholarly one, and I would be delighted if my remarks were to stimulate some aspiring young historians to undertake a more careful study of the events I am going to discuss. My story begins with World War II and the remarkable suc- cess of U.S. science in the war effort—a critical factor in our vic- tory. President Roosevelt’s science adviser, Vannevar Bush, had