From the Great War onwards there was a proliferation of state, civilian and private organizations that either sponsored or oversaw research into science. These new forms of organization sparked wholly new questions about what science should be funded and how it should be managed. Moreover, during the twentieth century it became increasingly standard to use scientific research as an authoritative way of working through problems that had not previously been considered from that perspective. Military efficiency, social reconstruction, national health and industrial management all became legitimate sites for the intervention of the ‘man in the white coat’.

It is our aim to provide a big-picture study of twentieth-century science by revealing the patterns of change over the century, specifically in relation to the key stakeholders (state and industry, public and private) and their take on the values and mentalities offered by a scientific approach. Such a ‘big picture’ is timely not only in scholarly terms but also as the financial climate prompts reassessment of research in industry and academe. This conference will help us understand how invention and experiment have been managed in recent British history.