ABSTRACT
Sir Geoffrey Vickers (1894-1982) was born into Edwardian England, an era brimming with optimism and faith in progress. The era into which we, the editors, were born in America some 50 years later had seen two world wars and a world-wide depression of unprecedented magnitude. The intervening two generations had experienced an explo sion of technological capability unparalleled in human history. That explosion greatly expanded the potential for both good and ill in human relations, and set the stage for even greater promise and threat to human culture.
