Jackson draws inspiration from MIT alumnus Vannevar Bush, who helped mobilize the best US R&D talent during World War 2.
Bush overcame scientists’ “skepticism and even antagonism toward the concept of federal funding,” says Jackson, promoting collaboration with the government. MIT Radiation Laboratory scientists helped develop electronic countermeasures for the deadly buzz bombs that terrorized Londoners during the war. In peacetime, Bush recommended to President Truman the continued marriage of government, industry and science -- weaving in the humanities and social sciences, too.
Bush believed the results of research could be “adapted readily to shifting national needs ... and could assist not only in national security but in general economic growth and quality of life,” says Jackson. Bush’s blueprint helped justify a massive infusion of federal money into R&D for many decades.
But today, this investment has shrunken to historic lows, says Jackson. “50 years after Sputnik,” she says, “we need to focus on another great global challenge: energy security and sustainability.” This is a “race against time,” requiring multi-sector collaboration, rooted in fundamental research, with no product in mind.
Jackson calls for a rejuvenation “on a massive scale” in basic research and education, comparable to the university-government-industry mobilization that began during World War 2.
