Discusses the history of American physics, indicating that much effort has been on the atomic bond and high-energy physics, to the detriment of other topics and areas. To offset this tendency, significant research is going on in the history of solid-state physics, with glimmerings in the history of physics education. (JN)

Discusses: material/personnel shortages and surpluses around 1950; federal aid to nonmilitary research; loyalty oaths and security checks; rise of the behavioral sciences; science education, from the Cold War to creationism; antinuclear protests and the limited test ban treaty, 1954-1963; Sputnik and the space program; and health, safety, and…

Examines work of the past decade that has elucidated the place, function, and nature of science in American medicine and on the need and means to develop a more ample and balanced history of the meanings of that science. (JN)

Discusses recent work on scientific institutions in the United States, indicating that although historians have explored the origins of institutions, few have pursued these organizations into their later and perhaps equally complex years. Learned/professional organizations, museums, publications, and philanthropy are among the major topic areas…

Discusses differing views of the science and technology relationship held by policymakers (with budgets to defend) and historians of science and technology (largely without budgets). Focuses on the period after 1945 when leaders of United States science agencies propagandized an older idea that only "basic" science led to technology/technological…

Examines the realm of science and the federal government made evident in the 1950s by A. Hunter Dupree's classic work on the subject. Federal science before 1940, federal science since 1940, and sources of historical materials are among the major areas considered. (JN)

Examines the development of American astronomy by discussing: general studies on the subject; early efforts through 1825; establishing foundations (1825-1875); the transitional period (1875-1945); and the space age (1945 to the present). Points out that the field is underdeveloped with a need for additional work. (JN)

Discusses the development of chemistry in the United States by considering: (1) chemistry as an evolving body of ideas/techniques, and as a set of conceptual resources affecting and affected by the development of other sciences; and (2) chemistry related to the history of American social and economic institutions and practices. (JN)

Reviews the history of science and religion in the United States, examining: (1) science and religion in the colonies; (2) science and scripture in the early republic; (3) the Darwinian debates; and (4) science and religion in modern America. (JN)

Discusses: (1) geologists and the history of geology; (2) American historians and the history of geology; (3) history of geology in the 1980s; (4) sources for the history of geology (bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, periodicals, public/official histories, compilations, and books); (5) research opportunities; and (6) other…

Examines the history of biology in the United States by considering: (1) general trends about the nature of American biology; (2) sources of information; (3) biographies; (4) biological institutions; and (5) disciplinary studies. Indicates that the field is dominated by internalists who focus on particular persons and topics. (JN)

Native American science is defined as activities of native peoples of the New World in observing physical phenomena and attempting to explain and control them. Problems in studying native science, ethnoscience and native science, archaeostronomy and ethnoastronomy, ethnobotany, agriculture, technology, and future directions are discussed. (JN)

Reviews the history of the social sciences in America, indicating that the field is still chiefly a collection of topics, albeit important ones such as mental hospitals, child development, and eugenics. Also indicates that although source materials are vast, synthetic overviews are needed in a number of areas. (JN)

Provides a wide-ranging survey of relations between war, science, and technology from the days of the American colonies to the Vietnam War, indicating that the overall impact of science and technology on war has been overstated by historians in many fields. Includes military histories that science/technology historians have not used. (JN)

Explores the history of science in America from the viewpoint of access to sources. Considered are a number of specific bibliographic and other reference works, as well as important recent projects and developments that aim to preserve and improve access to archival and other documentation and historical data for future use. (JN)