Abstract
IN an address on the “Social Applications of Physics“ at a symposium at the University of Sydney on September 21, which was published in the Union Recorder (October 7), Prof. O. TL Vonwiller, pointing out that the man of science to-day must consider the bearing of his work on the problems of civilization and recognize his responsibility for some of the economic and social difficulties of the times, suggested these difficulties were due primarily to our inability to accommodate social and economic conditions to the rapidly changing methods of production following the application of scientific discovery. The main cause of these rapid changes was the changed status of the inventor, and while the success of the man of science as inventor had brought many real benefits to mankind, much distress had also arisen because in applying scientific discovery the first consideration was that of financial benefit. Prof. Vonwiller considered we could not continue to ignore ameliorating measures and suggested that the most promising method for dealing with the evils of over-production was to reduce the hours of employment. No satisfactory and lasting improvement in our difficulties could be expected, however, unless we adopted much from the methods of scientific investigation and discovery, with their honesty of inquiry and statement. In economic questions the difficulty of avoiding prejudice, however, was very great, and Prof. Vonwiller did not suggest that the adoption of scientific method would remove all our difficulties, though he appealed strongly for a courageous endeavour to understand and make understood the possibilities and limitations of scientific progress.
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Social Applications of Physics. Nature 141, 600 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141600a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141600a0