Applied Science

'Born on the same day as Frankenstein's monster, the term Applied Science has captured many people's hopes and fears ... Robert Bud, for the first time, in a rich and nuanced historical study, reveals what Applied Science meant, and why it mattered in the British context.' Jon Agar, University College London
'Bud has given us a deliciously complicated story about the origins in the early nineteenth century of 'applied science' in Britain and its subsequent long-term history up to the end of the twentieth century. Changing meanings had vast implications for the development of government, educational and research institutions, industry, and an enlightened public.' Bernard Lightman, York University
'In scope, conceptual finesse, and wide-ranging erudition, this is a ground-breaking book. Building on its core theme of the fashioning, deployment, and eventual fading, since the 1960s, of the concept of applied science, it offers insights of profound importance not only for historians of modern Britain but also for decision-makers and commentators concerned with the direction of research policy in our own day.' Robert Fox, University of Oxford
'The study of science in society since the Industrial Revolution has revealed many ways of describing the pursuit and uses of natural knowledge. In Applied Science: Knowledge, Modernity and Britain's Public Realm, Robert Bud takes us on a fascinating journey through the adoption and abandonment of concepts that have shaped science policy for generations. This is a thoughtful, beautifully researched, and timely book for the historian, policymaker and practitioner alike.' Roy MacLeod, University of Sydney