Zuckerman Archive: Committee on Future Scientific Policy

Most of SZ/FSP/2 consists of papers and correspondence of Solly Zuckerman and various members of the Tots and Quots dining club (the subject of Series SZ/TQ): P.M.S. Blackett, C.H. Waddington, and J.G. Crowther, with contributions from Mark Oliphant and Frank Yates. The subject was the post-war organisation of science, the essence of which was discussed with Herbert Morrison and subsequently encapsulated in a memorandum, dated 19 November 1945, on the composition and function of a science secretariat, and a further paper Machinery for central direction of scientific effort, 8 December 1945, which Morrison proposed putting before the Barlow Committee. The remaining correspondence is with M.T. Flett, Secretary to the Barlow Committee. The file also contains a copy of the Report of the Committee on Education and Research in Aeronautics, HMSO, 1920, Cmd 554.

The numbered papers deal with: higher education, especially in the sciences; the demand for and supply of scientists; the Haldane report of 1918 on the departmental machinery for science; scientific relations with other countries; scientists in government departments; and the drafting of the Committee's reports on scientific manpower and central government machinery for science.

The Committee (often referred to as the Barlow Committee) was set up by Herbert Morrison, Lord President of the Council, on 9 December 1945 to consider the policies which should govern the use and development of our scientific manpower and resources during the next ten years. To submit an interim report on very broad lines at an early date [and...] At a later date to make recommendations as to the establishment of a permanent machinery for carrying out surveys as to the best use of our scientific resources in the national interest. Sir Alan Barlow was appointed acting Chairman, with C.P. Snow the Committee's scientific assessor. Solly Zuckerman was appointed to the Committee on 23 January 1946. The Committee's report, Scientific Man-power... Cmd 6824, was published in May 1946

• SZ/FSP/1 Agenda and Minutes, 1945-46
• SZ/FSP/2 Correspondence and Memoranda, 1920, 1945-46
• Documents FSP(45)1 - FSP(46)55, 1945-46 [in three sub-files]

Please refer to the fonds-level description for GB 1187 SZ.

This series is described at series level in the online catalogue of the Zuckerman Archive and in the general guide to the Zuckerman Archive, Deirdre Sharp: The Zuckerman Archive: a General Guide, University of East Anglia, 2000, which is available in print and online on the Internet. Manuscript lists of the contents of files SZ/FSP/2 and SZ/FSP/3 are available for consultation in the Archives Department.

Please refer to the fonds-level description for GB 1187 SZ.