ABSTRACT
Two general principles, the imprint of its own image upon scientific and technological activities, and the law of polarization, sum up the main effects of calamity upon science, including the social sciences, the humanities, and technology. The first manifests itself in the concentration of scientific and technological thought upon the calamity problem and the means for its solution. The law of polarization is revealed in the opposite effects induced by social disaster. Calamities promote scientific and technological progress also by creating new situations for observation and experimentation. They offer an opportunity to examine many aspects of social life which in normal times are hidden. War and revolution furnish exceptional facilities for the exploration of certain mathematical, chemical, physical, biological, and psychosocial phenomena. Calamities stimulate scientific thought indirectly through unusual situations which disrupt routine modes of thought and observation.
