Science and Spectacle: The Work of Jodrell Bank in Postwar British Culture

by Jon Agar

Science and Spectacle relates the construction of the telescope to the politics and culture of post-war Britain. From radar and atomic weapons, to the Festival of Britain and, later, Harold Wilson's rhetoric of scientific revolution, science formed a cultural resource from which post-war careers and a national identity could be built. The Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope was once a symbol of British science and a much needed prestigious project for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but it also raised questions regarding the proper role of universities as sites for scientific research.

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Jon Agar is Professor in Science and Technology Studies at University College London. Agar earned his BA in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1990 and a Ph.D. in the History of Science from the University fo Kent in 1994. From 1994 to 2001 he directed the UK National Archive for the History of Computing.