| Description | The formation of the Ministry of Technology followed the victory of the Labour Party at the General Election of October 1964; the minister was F. Cousins. Blackett became Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Council on technology and Scientific Advisor to the ministry. This gave him at the time 'immense power' (Bernard Lovell, 'P.M.S. Blackett: A Biographical Memoir', Royal Society: 1976, p80), but he had also had an important say in the formation of the Ministry, through many writings and discussions and through his close relationship with H. Wilson and R.H.S Crossman. He wrote himself of his paper: 'The case for a Ministry of Technology' (E.49): 'believe that this memorandum had considerable influence in the setting up of the Ministry of technology soon after the general Election of 1964'.
The folders E.48-65 contain various writings, reports and correspondence relating to this period. Reference should also be made to F.26-38 (The Trend Committee) since Blackett used much of the material and ideas contributed by scientific colleagues for the Royal Society's submission to the Trend committee in the formation of his plans for the organisation of science and technology at ministerial level.
Many of the lectures and talks in Section G deal with similar problems of science and government. |