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Europe in space 1960–1973
research ELSEVIER
Research Policy 25 (1996) 479-488
policy
Book Reviews John Krige and Arturo Russo, Europe in Space 1960-1973 (ESA Noordwijk, NL, 1994), 122 pp. D r . 70, ISBN 92 9092 125 0. This is an exceedingly competent description of a very tangled piece of technological history. The authors must be congratulated on having found their way so unerringly through the very complicated manouvres of European countries wanting to cooperate, yet at the same time determined not to compromise on their widely differing perceived national objectives. As an erstwhile participant (I was Director General of ESRO 1967-1971) I found the book informative on the earlier and later periods, and precise and accurate on the years of my involvement. For the specialist historian of those years there can be no doubt of the value of this volume, but it is a little more difficult to be sure of its benefit for a more general reader. Certainly there are a number of essential lessons in technical cooperation to be learned from these goings-on. It is important that all those concerned in making policy in such fields should be thoroughly aware of these lessons, but I am not sure that they have been brought out sufficiently clearly for the casual reader. Thus one has to reach p. 110 (the Aubiniere report) before it is made crystal clear that the failures of ELDO were inherent in the managerially hopeless treaty that set up the organisation. Nor is it easily appreciated that it was the scientists' insistence on sound principles of management being incorporated in its treaty that enabled ESRO to function well technically, especially after additional central powers were vested in it thanks to the Bannier report. But the illusion that Europe could do space engineering markedly more cheaply than
the Americans (because sairies were then lower in Europe) was shared by scientists and technologists alike. This led to great and perhaps avoidable disappointment just before I came on the scene. But perhaps other readers of this tangled tale will find different lessons in this book. International negotiations form a complex subject. We can all learn how to do it better next time if only we will study past experiences. The reader cannot help being made wiser by perusing this volume. Sir Hermann Bondi
Churchill College, Cambridge CB3 0DS UK SSD10048-7333(95)00845-4
F.Q. Wood and V.L. Meek (Editors) Research Grants: Management and Funding (Bibliotech, Canberra, 1993) vii + 212 pp., price stated AU$22.50, ISBN 0 7315 1894 2. I pick up a book on the management and funding of research grants more out of a sense of duty than in expectation of an interesting read. The fact that it turns out to consist of talks given at a symposium 18 months ago, and is printed in unnecessarily small type on unnecessarily heavy paper, does little to raise my enthusiasm. And, indeed, this book has its mundane contributions. But it also has some creative papers that take us into several key areas of research policy. We are reminded once again how similar are the policy issues that face each of the scientifically
Research Policy 25 (1996) 479-488
policy
Book Reviews John Krige and Arturo Russo, Europe in Space 1960-1973 (ESA Noordwijk, NL, 1994), 122 pp. D r . 70, ISBN 92 9092 125 0. This is an exceedingly competent description of a very tangled piece of technological history. The authors must be congratulated on having found their way so unerringly through the very complicated manouvres of European countries wanting to cooperate, yet at the same time determined not to compromise on their widely differing perceived national objectives. As an erstwhile participant (I was Director General of ESRO 1967-1971) I found the book informative on the earlier and later periods, and precise and accurate on the years of my involvement. For the specialist historian of those years there can be no doubt of the value of this volume, but it is a little more difficult to be sure of its benefit for a more general reader. Certainly there are a number of essential lessons in technical cooperation to be learned from these goings-on. It is important that all those concerned in making policy in such fields should be thoroughly aware of these lessons, but I am not sure that they have been brought out sufficiently clearly for the casual reader. Thus one has to reach p. 110 (the Aubiniere report) before it is made crystal clear that the failures of ELDO were inherent in the managerially hopeless treaty that set up the organisation. Nor is it easily appreciated that it was the scientists' insistence on sound principles of management being incorporated in its treaty that enabled ESRO to function well technically, especially after additional central powers were vested in it thanks to the Bannier report. But the illusion that Europe could do space engineering markedly more cheaply than
the Americans (because sairies were then lower in Europe) was shared by scientists and technologists alike. This led to great and perhaps avoidable disappointment just before I came on the scene. But perhaps other readers of this tangled tale will find different lessons in this book. International negotiations form a complex subject. We can all learn how to do it better next time if only we will study past experiences. The reader cannot help being made wiser by perusing this volume. Sir Hermann Bondi
Churchill College, Cambridge CB3 0DS UK SSD10048-7333(95)00845-4
F.Q. Wood and V.L. Meek (Editors) Research Grants: Management and Funding (Bibliotech, Canberra, 1993) vii + 212 pp., price stated AU$22.50, ISBN 0 7315 1894 2. I pick up a book on the management and funding of research grants more out of a sense of duty than in expectation of an interesting read. The fact that it turns out to consist of talks given at a symposium 18 months ago, and is printed in unnecessarily small type on unnecessarily heavy paper, does little to raise my enthusiasm. And, indeed, this book has its mundane contributions. But it also has some creative papers that take us into several key areas of research policy. We are reminded once again how similar are the policy issues that face each of the scientifically