Introduction

American science has commanded increasing levels of support, first from private and then from public sources. Its defining goal has always been the improvement of mankind’s understanding of the natural world. Since the establishment of research as a key component of advanced university education in the United States in the latter part of the nineteenth century, science has also been promoted by its leaders and spokesmen as a means of establishing the laudable habits of rigorous thinking and logical precision in its students and in the broader culture. And more recently, with the United States standing out as the world’s preeminent industrial power, science has been looked to as a wellspring of technological innovation and an engine of national prosperity. ¹