Abstract
THE report, “International Relations in Science: a Review of their Aims and Methods in the Past and in the Future”, by the late Dr. W. B. Cannon and Dr. R. M. Field*, was prepared for the Division of Foreign Relations of the U.S. National Research Council. It is based on a questionnaire issued in March 1944 to all available officers of the international scientific unions and international scientific congresses, and represents a definite attempt at a factual appraisal of past experience as a guide in framing the instruments now required to secure the continuity of international co-operative research and the conditions for effective international co-operation in the scientific field. It is thus of considerable interest when the first attempts are being made to resume international meetings, and the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation are under discussion. Three of the six specific questions of the questionnaire-about the interchange of information, other than for war purposes, during the past two years, specific scientific projects requiring international co-operation, and whether experience suggests that post-war international co-operation in science and education could best be served by other organisations than international scientific unions or congresses-are indeed designed to provide exactly the information required for decision as to whether new forms of international scientific co-operation are required or whether existing institutions would be adequate.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF SCIENCE. Nature 157, 561–562 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157561a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157561a0