Suggested Research Topics - Robert R. McMath and the Development of "Big Science" Astronomy

After World War II the organization of scientific research in the United States changed from the classic "little science", popularly characterized by the lone genius puttering about in his dusty lab, to the modern "big science"--huge research establishments using large and costly instruments to solve big problems--epitomized by the Manhattan Project and the space program. The few examples of "big science" that were developed before the war, such as the Mount Palomar telescope and the 184" cyclotron at the University of California, strained the resources of the foundations and industries that were the main sources of support for research in that era. After the war, the federal government, through the National Science Foundation and other agencies, took a much more active role in supporting research, helping change the scope and nature of scientific organizations.

Astronomers, no less than other scientists, saw their research transformed by the new forms of research organization. The old network of individual university observatories funded at the local level was supplemented by new cooperative, federally-funded, national observatories. One of the most important of these cooperative ventures was the Kitt Peak National Observatory, administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The University of Michigan, through professor Robert McMath, was instrumental in the founding and development of AURA and Kitt Peak.

McMath was well suited to oversee the change from individual to corporate research, in which science became more like industry. An engineer and industrialist, he first took up astronomy in the 1920s as a hobby, building his own personal observatory. Only later in life did he join the academic community, joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1939. In the early 1950s he led panels planning for the national observatory, and in 1957 became the first president of AURA.

Through the career of McMath trace the change from individualistic astronomical research in the 1930s to the corporate research environment of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in the 1960s. Why did astronomers see a need for "big science"? How did developments in astronomy relate to changes in the nature of research in other scientific disciplines?

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In an effort to encourage creative thinking about possible research topics for students unfamiliar with archives and their inevitable complexities, archivists and student employees of the Bentley Historical Library have authored "suggested research topics ." The purpose of these is not to define a topic but rather to stimulate thinking about a topic where the holdings of the Bentley Library are particularly strong.