Innovators. Digital revolution

In September, at Corpus [1] The book of Walter Aisekson “Innovators” is published. Aisekson is an American journalist and writer. Now he is the president of the Aspen Institute, and used to be the head of CNN and the editor -in -chief of Time magazine. This is a recognized master of the biographical genre. Aisekson is the author of Einstein. His life and the universe ”(M.: AST: Corpus, 2015), having read which Steve Jobs already asked Aisekson to write a book about him and about Apple (Steve Jobs. M.: Corpus, 2012). It should be noted that for his books, Aisekson uses a huge number of archival materials, newspaper publications, and interviews. Almost every phrase is based on actual material.

"Innovators" is a book about the digital revolution of the late twentieth century. As Isaexon himself says, he set himself the goal not only to tell about the people who committed this revolution, but also about the collective creativity, which, in his opinion, is the main driving force of innovation.

I am one of the translators of this book. Work on her was interesting. Aisekson, as always, excitingly describes people who stood at the origins of the new digital era. After reading the book, you seem to meet them. Now, for example, behind the formal word “chip”, which has long been included in the vocabulary of those who are at least somehow connected with modern electronic devices, you see people who have come up with this very chip.

But Aisekson not only studied the biographies of the leaders of this revolution, but also “... a social and cultural environment that provides an atmosphere that contributes to the emergence of innovations ... This atmosphere was supported by the ecosystem favorable for research, provided by state subsidies and functioning as part of the cooperation of military-industrial and scientific complexes” [2] . And also, from his point of view, a “free union of public organizations, hippies with their communal consciousness, lovers - self -taught and home -grown hackers were needed, most of which were distrustful of centralized regulation.”

I am not going to review Aisekson's book. But in the light of a passing (or already completed?) Reform of the Academy of Sciences it seemed to me important and interesting to bring several quotes from the "innovators" showing how relations between the state and the scientific community were built in the United States, how the state has a fundamental science there. I will do this on the example of the chapter dedicated to the creation of the Internet.

Aisekson writes: “The World Network appeared thanks to the cooperation of people belonging to three completely different groups: military, university scientists and employees of private corporations.” The merit of the creation of this triple union belongs to MIT professor Venivar Bush - indisputable authority in each of the three camps.

Bush received his first patent for the invention of Bush. In 1922, he founded the Raytheon company, which was engaged in electronics and later became a large supplier of the US military department. Since 1932, Bush was the vice president and dean of the MIT engineering school, and during the Second World War-the chief military adviser to the presidential administration Roosevelt, the coordinator of the Manhattan project. But its most important invention can be considered a plan according to which the state instead of building a large number of new government laboratories was to conclude contracts with universities and industrial research centers.

In the mid-1930s, it seemed that nothing new in science was happening. In 1939, at the World Exhibition in New York, a message laid down in the “time capsule” consisted of Mickey Mouse and the safe razor Gillette.

The beginning of the war has changed everything. The technical lag of the US military had to be overcome. And Bush is involved in the organization of the National Defense Research Committee, and then the Military Bureau of Scientific Research and Development (Office of Scientific Research and Development).

And then “... in July 1945, Bush presented a report [it was called“ science and endless knowledge ”] , written by order of Roosevelt. Due to the death of Roosevelt, the report lay on the table of President Harry Truman. Bush advocated financing from the state budget of fundamental research, conducted jointly with universities and industrial enterprises. Introduction to the report deserves to reread it whenever politicians threaten to cut out the financing of research necessary for innovation. “The result of fundamental research is new knowledge,” Bush wrote. “It makes up scientific capital, which is a source from which the practical applications of knowledge should be drawn. [War] , without a doubt, showed [that the fundamental science] is certainly vital for the security of the state ... In a state that depends on the new fundamental branches of knowledge, technological progress is slowed down, it loses competitiveness in competitive world trade. " At the end of the Bush report, he reaches poetic heights, giving out the praise of the fruitfulness of fundamental research: “The successes of science, if you transfer them into a practical plane, mean more jobs, big earnings, reduction of working hours, more abundant crops, more free time for relaxation, study, more time to learn to live without killing overwhelming work, which in recent years has been the lot of a simple person”.

After that, Congress decides to create a National Science Foundation, NSF). And further: “First, Truman imposed a veto on this bill, since the powers to choose the director were given to the independent board of directors, not the president. But Bush convinced Truman, explaining that such a foundation device would protect him from those who will try to earn political glasses on this. “Wen, you must be a politician,” Truman told him. “You have a natural instinct.” Bush’s answer was like this: “Mr. President, what do you think, the hell, I have been doing in this city [Washington] for five years now?” ... The creation of a triple alliance between the government, industry and science itself was an important innovation that contributed to the technological revolution of the late XX century. ”

Then follows a fascinating story about the “Fathers of the Internet”, about financing the work on creating a world network, which one of its creators Joseph Karl Robnett Loclaider Highly called “Intergalactic computer network”, about agencies, firms and universities where they worked.

I would like to talk about another episode. It is well known: at the beginning of the 20th century, Germany was the most “scientific” country in the world. It is difficult to even list all the great people who lived and worked in this country. This is the plank, Einstein, Geisenberg, Zommerfeld, and so on, and so on ... After Hitler came to power in April 1933, a new law on public service appears, according to which Jews could not be civil servants. And university professors were precisely public servants. Among those who were forced to flee, there were fourteen Nobel laureates and twenty -six out of sixty professors of theoretical physics.

Planck tried to save German science, explaining to Hitler how destructive consequences this law leads to. “Our national policy will neither be canceled nor softened even for the sake of scientists, ” Hitler answered angrily. - Even if the dismissal of Jewish scientists means the elimination of modern German science, we will live without it for several years! ” [3] . Everyone knows that from this "pogrom" German science has not fully recovered. It seems to me that all reformers of science should remember this lesson.

I would like to finish the words from the inaugural speech of President Eisenhower (1953–1961): “Love for freedom means protecting all resources that ensure our independence, starting from the inviolability of our families and the wealth of our land to the talents of our scientists.”

Inna Kaganova,
cand. physical. sciences

1. Corpus.ru/products/innovatory.htm
2. If not indicated otherwise, cit. According to the book: Aisekson W. Innovators. M.: AST: Corpus, 2015.
3. Isexon W. Einstein. His life and the universe. M.: AST: Corpus, 2015.