Donald E. Stokes

Stokes, or Dean Don, as we used to him when he was Dean of the Graduate School at The University of Michigan, wants us to use a two dimensional model for looking at scientific project. Vannevar Bush had used a one dimensional model, putting all projects somewhere along the dimension from basic to applied research and funding them accordingly. Stokes argues that this misrepresents much of research. He posits that we should use two dimensions, one being the quest for fundamental understanding, running from Yes to No. The second being consideration of use, again running from yes to no. When one uses both, crosses them, the quadrants jump when you see exemplars such as Bohr, Yes to fundalmental understanding, No to consideration of use, Pasteur (thus the name of the book), Yes to both dimensions, and Edison, No to fundamental understanding and Yes to consideration of use. So far so good. Stokes then reviews research funding from the post war period to the end of the twentieth century. The assumption is we want research to serve the public by improving life in some way. No clear that the problem is the weakness of the metaphors people used. The most glaring omission was lack of any mention of government's role in creating the internet which occurred during this period.… (mehr)