Warren Weaver

The population of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in 1894 was something under two thousand persons. Whatever the exact number, it was increased by one on the early morning of July 17, for that is when and where I was born. Southern Wisconsin was of course settled much later than was the Eastern seaboard, the...

Because my family lived in Madison, Wisconsin, and residents of the state paid no tuition, it was a foregone conclusion that I would attend the University of Wisconsin. Great as is my respect and affection for that institution, I regret in some ways that automatic decision, for it left me living at...

In the late spring of 1917 Dr. Robert A. Millikan (1868-1953)—the Nobel Prize measurer of the electrical charge of the electron-asked me to come to see him in Chicago. This was just at the time when Dr. Millikan was shifting his interests to Pasadena, spending one academic quarter there each year,...

In September 1920, we returned to Madison and lived there for nearly twelve years. I went back to the university as an assistant professor, was made an associate professor in 1925, and a professor and chairman of the department in 1928. The previous chairman had been Edward Burr Van Vleck, a...

During my teaching years at Madison, the University of Wisconsin, although modest in size by today's standards, was the dominant factor in the life of the capital city. The atmosphere of the university was one of calm dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. Student disturbances never occurred on...

6. The War Years Extensive travel in Europe and many contacts with the Jewish refugee problem had convinced me, over the 1930s, that something evil was taking place in Germany. In spite of all my theoretical persuasion that war is no way to solve the world's problems, I became even more convinced...

7. Postwar Activities During the war period my responsibilities to Dr. Bush's OSRD had first claim on my time, and in fact demanded practically all of my energy. I did, nevertheless, maintain regular contact with what was going on in the Rockefeller Foundation. And immediately after the war I began...

My association with Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., began in 1954 when I was elected to the board of trustees of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and then, soon after, made the chairman of that organization's Committee on Scientific Policy. All major questions concerning the scientific...

9. Science Then and Now Suppose that in some magic way an unborn individual could be told that he is going to live for about three fourths of a century. In order to have the richest possible experience, when would he like to have that period begin? The answer would of course depend on the nature...

Throughout my life my preoccupation has been with science, but I also have a lifelong concern for and interest in religion. In this, and in the next and final chapter of this book I want to turn aside from the consideration of the incidents of my life, and state some ideas about science and about...

11. Science, Contradiction, and Religion For the main conclusions of this final chapter, it is necessary for us to consider at this point a concept, a principle, that was scientific in its origin but which is now recognized to have a much wider significance. This is the concept of...