CHAPTER II

The Technology Development Laboratory From its Origins to the Second World War

The present technology development laboratory is a relatively young institution with roots deep in the past. While we could jump immediately into the problems of the contemporary research institution, to do so would omit some of the most interesting parts of the story. Few institutions wholly outgrow their origins, and today's mission-oriented laboratories are lineal descendants of the institutions established by the Royal Society of Great Britain, the German chemical laboratories of the early twentieth century, and the research bureaus sponsored by the Government of the United States. Neither systems engineering nor contract research nor the captive research facility with essentially one client emerged full-blown, as the result of some inexorable process. Nor are the technology development laboratories, on one hand, and the institutes devoted to theoretical research, on the other, absolutely distinct. Such things as the justification of research for utilitarian ends, the focusing of scientific activity in a group, and the need to justify continuously the organization's goals, are common to both. Because the origins of both kinds of institution are bound up with each other and because we believe that an inquiry into their common sources can provide a deeper understanding of today's Federally-sponsored research, we chose to begin there.

Origins of the Technology Development Laboratory

If an institution is to be judged by the extent and duration of its influence, the Lyceum of Aristotle was the most successful, as it was the earliest, of all research institutions (ref. 13). Founded by Aristotle during his last long residence in Athens (335-323 B.C.), the Lyceum was a combination of university, research center, and scientific academy. Like most research centers today, the Lyceum had a government sponsor, Alexander the Great, who had been Aristotle's pupil. The mission, as we would say, of the Lyceum embraced a vast research program; unlike Plato's Academy, whose work was purely theoretical, the Lyceum had a strongly practical bent, with important accomplishments in biology,

psychology, and anatomy. The work of the Lyceum included assembling a collection of maps and manuscripts, and the delivery of public lectures. In fact, almost all of Aristotle's surviving works consist of his lecture notes. The Lyceum long survived Aristotle, and its influence extended through the Middle Ages down to the seventeenth century, by which time Aristotelianism had become a byword for a dry, hairsplitting philosophy totally out of tune with the new system of the natural sciences. But in its origins, the Lyceum was precisely the opposite.

Although the results of Aristotle's research proved immensely significant, his method of organized scientific research lapsed after his death and had to be rediscovered some eighteen centuries later. The first tentative revival of goal-oriented research probably occurred in the early fifteenth century, when the growth of commerce made improvements in navigation (especially the determination of longitude), improved ship design, and improved artillery imperative. Perhaps the earliest institution with the earmarks of a modern technology development laboratory was the organization set up by Prince Henry of Portugal, or Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) (fig. 1), near Sagres at Cape St. Vincent in southwestern Portugal. Opinions differ about the nature of Henry's "laboratory." One historian (J.H. Parry) states flatly that "the story of a school of astronomy and mathematics at Sagres is pure invention," while another (Marie Boas) says that he set up "a veritable research institute” at Sagres (ref. 14). From the little that we do know, certain conclusions follow:

• Henry's institution was multidisciplinary. We would not go so far as Parry, since it appears that mathematics, astronomy, cartography, navigation, and certain things connected with the preservation of food and water were represented. In conducting the affairs of his "laboratory," Henry recognized the importance of establishing relations with the creators of new knowledge. Thus he founded the chair of mathematics at the University of Lisbon.

The "laboratory" was mission oriented, since its purpose was to master the art and science of navigation. According to Parry, "Prince Henry placed gentlemen of his own household in command of the ships, and set them definite geographical objects to be reached and passed. Thus from the habit of making fishing and casual trading voyages along a relatively short stretch of coast, there developed a programme of progressive, though intermittent, exploration much further south." (ref. 15.)

There was, then, a stress on applications and practical results and what is less certain an interest in scholarship and research, so far as these made the former possible. Henry wanted to open profitable new trade routes, to convert pagans, and to make contact with any

FIGURE 1.-Prince Henry of Portugal (1395-1460). Prince Henry, also known as Henry the Navigator, established what was probably the world's first technology development center in 1420.

Christian rulers who might be found. To achieve these ends, he encouraged improvements in cartography and navigational instruments. Partly through his efforts, Lisbon, by the late fifteenth century, was the most important center in Europe for practical astronomy.

The institution founded by Prince Henry in 1420 did not survive, although it remained a center for the study and promotion of navigational enterprises for some years after Henry's death in 1460. We know, for example, that Christopher Columbus spent several years at Sagres before his epoch-making journey in 1492. However, it is probable that the Portuguese Government did not realize the importance of what Henry had started in Sagres. Thus, Henry's institution was more of a short-lived experiment than an enterprise with the base of support necessary to become a permanent feature of Europe's technological landscape. Henry's institute was finally completely destroyed by Sir Francis Drake in his famous preemptive strike against Spain in 1587 — the "singeing of King Philip's beard" of our high school history textbooks — the year before the Duke of Medina Sidonia led the Spanish Armada on its abortive expedition against England. Did Drake realize how important Henry's institution was and thus make it a special target? It is interesting to speculate, but we do not know.

There were, however, two concepts that Henry's organization showed in embryonic form—the yoking together of scientific investigation to practical ends, and the concept of research as a cooperative enterprise with a promising future. But that future lay beyond the Iberian Peninsula. First in Italy, followed by France and England, groups of scholars met for discussions, to exchange ideas with foreign correspondents, and, where funds permitted, to publish their proceedings. The oldest such society devoted to scientific investigation was the Academie des Lincei, founded in Rome in 1600, of which Galileo was an active member. More significant was the informal society founded by the French priest Mersenne in 1635, which brought together scientists and philosophers like Descartes, Hobbes, and Pascal. This society became the nucleus of the Academie des Sciences (1666) and, through the activities of its founder, the nexus for scientific communications throughout much of northern Europe.

By the mid-seventeenth century many of the preconditions for technology development institutions existed. As we have seen, a network for the exchange of ideas covered much of Europe; it became fashionable among the clergy, the nobility, and public officials to dabble in scientific experiments; while the new philosophy represented an attempt to incorporate a scientific world view. The great philosopher Baruch Spinoza, for instance, earned his living as a lens-grinder, and his philosophy can be considered as an attempt to give a completely naturalistic view of the world. But the most influential voice on behalf of