Scientizing the ‘environment’: Solly Zuckerman and the idea of the School of Environmental Sciences

Honeybun-Arnolda, Elliot ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0308-4348 (2023) Scientizing the ‘environment’: Solly Zuckerman and the idea of the School of Environmental Sciences. British Journal for the History of Science. ISSN 0007-0874

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Abstract

In 1960 Sir Solly Zuckerman proposed the idea of an interdisciplinary department of ‘environmental sciences’ (ENV) for the newly established University of East Anglia (UEA). Prior to this point, the concept of ‘environmental sciences’ was little known: since then, departments and degree courses have rapidly proliferated through universities and colleges around the globe. This paper draws on archival research to explore the conditions and contexts that led to the proposal of a new and interdisciplinary grouping of sciences by Zuckerman. It argues that the activities of Zuckerman and other scientists in Britain during the Second World War and in the post-war period helped to create fertile conditions for a new kind of scientific authority to emerge as a tool of governance and source of policy advice. In particular, the specific challenges of post-war Britain – as addressed through scientific advisers and civil servants – led to the ‘environment’ becoming both the subject of sustained scientific study and an object of concern.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 11 Mar 2024 14:31
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/94630
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087423000936

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