Ivory tower research

Shortly after Arthur Pardee came back to Bushnell fi"om the Dry Tormgas Islands, he left and joined a war project in the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley. Captain Nolen was furious. He said Pardee had abandoned real war research at Bushnell and fled to ivory tower research in the University at Berkeley. Only later could it be said that Pardee had left Florida to work at Berkeley on the nuclear bomb program. 

Consider supplementing these relatively static media with in-person presentations—especially as you undertake facility-specific communications. In some companies, it may be feasible to develop a core presentation that a number of PSM advocates— the PSM team, for example—can use to provide an overview and introduction to the PSM system. This helps bring your company s PSM system out of the ivory tower (or research lab) and into the field in addition, it helps encourage dialogue with participants— present and future. 

Drug discovery has become much more integrated with the other main functions of a pharmaceutical company, i.e. drug development and marketing. Discovery is no longer done in an ivory tower with unlimited freedom for the scientist to select topics for research. Nowadays, in most big pharmaceutical companies, the areas of research are chosen in close collaboration with marketing and development, usually as part of a comprehensive therapeutic... 

Jensen, P.S., Hoagwood, K., and Trickett, E. (1999a) Ivory tower or earthen trenches Community collaborations to foster real-world research. / Appl Dev Sci 3 206—212. 

As Kleinman and Valias (2001) note, however, basic research in American universities was never the autonomous ivory tower policy makers, science boosters, and some historians and sociologists of science have maintained. On this and other myths of science policy, see Sarewitz (1996). 

Not only Los Alamos, the Manhattan Project, Durrenmatt s play The Physicists have changed the (self-) conception of serious science or represent symbols for this change of mind-set. Science is responsible for what it realizes, discovers, and invents. It is responsible for the effects it has, for how it is used, and for what consequences it has for humankind. Science must leave the ivory tower of unprejudiced but responsibility free (if not irresponsible) knowledge. Earth has reached a point where science must assume responsibility for its further existence, where it must intervene. It is not just a question of not being allowed to do all we are able to do (contrary to the viewpoint of the American Christian Right, which claims that God has created the world in such a wonderful way that humankind will not be able to destroy it is disproved daily), but it is also a question of science, primarily natural science, making greater efforts than ever to explain what has been researched. Science must intervene - but those who want to intervene successfully must want to be understood. 

To the extent that publicly-funded scientists were mainly engaged in research divorced from obvious application, the public perception of scientists as occupants of ivory towers might be reinforced... 

In addition to reactivity and theoretical aspects, this volume provides significant coverage of biological applications. The contributions from industry, academia, and government laboratories emphasize the fact that research on organofluorine compounds is far from an ivory tower endeavor and, in fact, that selective fluorination does provide a useful alternative for the study of biological problems. 

The inert gases were at first considered mere curiosities, of interest only to the ivory-tower chemist. In researches beginning in 1910, however, the French chemist Georges Claude (1870-1960) showed that an electric current forced through certain gases such as neon produced a soft, colored light. 

For all his lengthy research and extensive innovation, Rosenstiehl did not by any means fit the conventional image of the chemist locked up in an ivory tower, immersed in theory and out of touch with the real world. On the contrary, ail of Rosenstiehl s discoveries were the results of questions presented to him either as a member of the Societe Industrielle de Mulhouse (1866-1877) or as head of research at the laboratory of the Thierry et Mieg firm (1868-1877), or of the Poirrier-Dalsace firm (1878-1905). 

We bang on continuously about the need to base action on scientific evidence. Evidence is meant to be the sheet anchor for rational policy development, but it is often the handmaiden of the vested interest advocate. Facts, interpretations, and options flow from partisan groups most of the time. Scientists have to learn to communicate simply, and vested interest research needs to be exposed. Sadly, it is difficult to counter the results of vested interest research, as the technical issues are typically beyond the understanding of the public and politicians. We need to figure out how to better connect the ivory tower to the corridor of power. 

In Australia, at present there are few effective traffic safety advocates. Who might facilitate the creation of a constituency, a constituency that demands a new approach It clearly will not be the government Nor can the front line come from the bulk of traffic safety professionals, as they are anployed by the government. The role of academics is moot, as most depend on funds from the government transport institutions for their research nevertheless, we must seek better links between the ivory towers and the corridors of power. 

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