Chemistry in America 1876–1976: Historical Indicators

581 Pages·1988·12.564 MB·English

by  Arnold Thackray, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, P. Thomas Carroll, Robert Bud (auth.)

CHEMISTRY IN AMERICA, 1876-1976
CHEMISTS AND CHEMISTRY
A series of books devoted to the examination of the history and development
of chemistry from its early emergence as a separate discipline to the present
day. The series will describe the personalities, processes, theoretical and
technical advances which have shaped our current understanding of chemical
science.
ARNOLD THACKRA Y, JEFFREY L. STURCHIO,
P. THOMAS CARROLL, and ROBERT BUD
CHEMISTRY
IN AMERICA
1876-1976
Historical Indicators
D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY
A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP
DORDRECHT/BOSTON/LANCASTER
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Chemistry in America, 1876-1976.
(Chemists and chemistry)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Chemistry-United States. I. Thackray, Arnold,
1939- II. Series.
QD18.U6C47 1984 540'.973 84-13388
ISBN 978-90-277-2662-9 ISBN 978-94-015-1124-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-1124-7
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company,
P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland
Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada
by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
190 Old Derby Street, Hingham. MA 02043, U.S.A.
In all other countries, sold and distributed
by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group,
P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland
All Rights Reserved
© 1985 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner
"Thai's Ihe gisl of ';A.'hal I ';A.'arll 10 say. ~'gn
me some SlallSlics 10 base it on."
Drawing by Joe Mirachi; © 1977
The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.
To our wives
- who count more
CONTENTS
PREFACE xlli
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
ILLUSTRA TION S xvii
TEXT TABLES xxiii
CHAPTER 1. ORIENTATIONS
1.1. American Chemistry in Cultural Context 1
1.2. Indicators of Trends in American Chemistry 2
1.3. Indicators and History 5
1.4. The Structure of This Study 7
CHAPTER 2. CHEMISTRY AS OCCUPATION AND PROFESSION 9
2.1. Chemistry as Occupation 9
2.1.1. The Differentiation of Occupations 9
2.1 .2. The Problems of Measurement 13
2.1.3. Indicators of the Occupation 15
2.2. Chemistry as Profession 22
2.2.1 . The American Chemical Society 22
2.2.2. The Professionalization of Chemistry 24
2.2 .3. Chemistry among the Professions 33
CHAPTER 3. CHEMICAL EDUCATION AS CONTEXT 39
3.1. Higher Education 40
3.1.1. Exponential Growth and Relative Decline 40
3.1.2. Decoupling: Vocation and Culture 54
3.2. Secondary Education 64
3.3. Mass Culture 76
CHAPTER 4. CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AS CONTEXT 83
4.1. Diversities and Definitions 83
4.2. Chemicals and Allied Products 85
ix
x CONTENTS
4.3. Oligopoly and Patents 92
4.4. Industry, Progress, and Boosterism 98
CHAPTER 5. A SECOND LOOK AT EMPLOYMENT 106
5.1. Industry 106
5.1 .1 . Chemists in Industry 107
5.1.2. Research Laboratories and Research Workers 1 11
5.2. Government 125
5.2.1. The Federal Government 125
5.2.2. Contexts of Federal Employment 129
5.2.3. State and Local Government 134
5.3. Academe 138
5.4. Other Contexts 143
CHAPTER 6. CHEMISTRY AS DISCIPLINE 147
6.1. The Chemical Discipline and the Research University 147
6.2. Papers, Prizes, and International Prestige 154
6.2.1. Citations of American Research 154
6.2.2. Nobel Prizes 160
6.3. The Entrenchment of Chemistry 163
6.4. The Differentiation of Chemistry 176
6.4.1. Chemical Journals 176
6.4.2. Specialization and ACS Strategy 181
6.4.3. Specialty Structure 182
6.5. ACS Presidents: Some Micro-Indicators 188
6.5 .1 . Age Structure 189
6.5 .2. Educational Background 191
6.5.3. Institutional Loci and Employment 194
6.5.4. Social Ties 198
6.6. Concluding Remarks 202
APPENDIXES 204
A. Chemistry and Chemists: Alternative Definitions 204
B. Chemical Industry: Alternative Definitions 222
C. Procedures Used in Analysis of Citations 228
D. A Note on the Treatment of Errors 234
E. Trend Analyses: Technical Details 236
TABLES 243
CONTENTS xi
BIBLIOGRAPHY 497
An Introductory Note 497
I. Data Sources 505
A. Federal Government 505
B. Other 51 I
II. Bibliography, Historiography, and Methodology 520
III. Other Books and Articles 526
INDEX 551
PREFACE
This study is an outgrowth of our interest in the history of modern chemistry.
The paucity of reliable, quantitative knowledge about past science was
brought home forcibly to us when we undertook a research seminar in the
comparative history of modern chemistry in Britain, Germany, and the United
States. That seminar, which took place at the University of Pennsylvania
in the spring of 1975, was paralleled by one devoted to the work of the
"Annales School". The two seminars together catalyzed the attempt to
construct historical measures of change in aspects of one science, or "chem
ical indicators". The present volume displays our results.
Perhaps our labors may be most usefully compared with the work of those
students of medieval science who devote their best efforts to the establish
ment of texts. Only when acceptable texts have been constructed from
fragmentary and corrupt sources can scholars move on to the more satisfying
business of making history. So too in the modern period, a necessary pre
liminary to the full history of any scientific profession is the establishing of
reliable quantitative information in the form of statistical series.
This volume does not offer history. Instead it provides certain elements -
indicators -- that may be useful to individuals interested in the history
of American chemistry and chemical industry, and suggestive for policy.
Statisticians may properly be distressed by the lack of technical sophistication
in the pages that follow. Sociologists will deplore our cavalier use of certain
terms. Historians can rightly deprecate our failure to focus on the unique, and
on the individual. Scientists should note our inability to take the measure of
their ideas, and purists of all kinds will unite in abhorrence of our resort to
"guesstimates", approximations, and interpolations. Even so, we trust some
people will find some use in some of what is reported here.
Two technicalities deserve explanation here. First, our references follow
a modified social science format. The symbol preceding the author's name
designates which section of our bibliography contains the entry in question:
lA, federal government sources of data (pp. SOSff): IB, other sources of data
(pp. Sllff): n, bibliography, historiography, and methodology (pp. S20ff):
or III, other books and articles (pp. S26ff). Second, when compiling time
series, we did not necessarily stop at the terminal year in our title, but rather
xiii