The Niels Bohr Archive's                   Monday, 13 May 2002 at 14:15
History of Science Seminar                 Auditorium M, Niels Bohr Institute
                                           Blegdamsvej 21, Copenhagen



                              Mary Jo Nye
               Horning Professor, Department of History,
                 Oregon State University at Corvallis

            The Character of Leadership in Scientific Life:
              P.M.S. Blackett and Modern British Physics

P.M.S. Blackett, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1948, was a director of
physics laboratories, a leader in the British Admiralty for wartime
operational research, and an active voice in British science policy.
This paper poses the questions of how Blackett came to be an effective
and influential leader of research schools. How is the scientific
leader's authority and influence established and perceived? Is there a
role for charisma in definitions of scientific leadership, as suggested
in some studies of research schools? What is specifically British in the
character of Blackett's achievement?