ABSTRACT
Blackett never underrated the importance of ‘conventional wisdom’ in the conduct of war, but his experience of stupidity, prejudice, complacency and bureaucratic inertia in policy-making did not diminish this naturally critical attitude towards government. Blackett was a member of the original Council of the Institute and his practical flair as well as his immense prestige played a large part in overcoming its initial teething troubles and establishing its international reputation. It was, for example, entirely due to Blackett that the Institute was able to establish itself in its highly convenient premises in Adam Street. Strategic problems interested him only intermittently, but when they did it was as if the beam of a lighthouse had settled on them, clarifying their obscurities before sweeping on to illuminate other fields. He brought to strategic problems not so much technical expertise as hard common sense and powerful reason-qualities not always evident in the contributions of some other eminent scientists and savants to the subject.
