The Council for Scientific Policy, 1965-1972, was a council set up in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

by the secretary of state. The council advised the secretary of state on all aspects of his responsibilities with reference to science policy.

History

The main purpose of the Council for Scientific Policy was to advise the government on the resources for science. Before 1965 this advice was given by the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy. The council was instructed to build a constructive relationship with other research councils, and the

Ministry of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. The secretariat was run by the

Department of Education and Science An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(DES). Chair persons: * 1965 - 1970: Sir

Harrie Massey Sir Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey (16 May 1908 – 27 November 1983) was an Australian mathematical physicist who worked primarily in the fields of atomic and atmospheric physics. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and Cambridge Univer ...

* 1970 - 1972: Sir

Frederick Dainton Frederick Sydney Dainton, Baron Dainton, Kt, FRS, FRSE (11 November 1914 – 5 December 1997) was a British academic chemist and university administrator. A graduate of Oxford and Cambridge, he was successively Professor of Physical Chemistr ...

Most members were eminent scientists drawn from universities and industry. A prominent member was

Derek Barton Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton (8 September 1918 – 16 March 1998) was an English organic chemist and Nobel Prize laureate for 1969. Education and early life Barton was born in Gravesend, Kent, to William Thomas and Maude Henrietta Barton ( ...

FRS,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

and

Nobel Prize laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

. Also included were assessors from the Medical Research Council and

Agricultural Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor, ...

, representatives from Department of Education and Science,

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

, and the University Grants Committee, the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

and the

. The council's primary interest was research, carried out in universities and by the other research councils. The council had a number of committees, sub-committees and working parties. In 1972 the Council for Scientific Policy was wound up and most of its functions passed to the

Advisory Board for the Research Councils Advisory may refer to: * Advisory board, a body that provides advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation * Boil-water advisory, a public health directive given by government to consumers when a community's drinking wate ...

. In 1992, responsibility for scientific matters was transferred to the new

Office of Science and Technology The Office of Science and Technology (OST), later (briefly) named the Office of Science and Innovation, was a non-ministerial government department of the British government between 1992 and 2007. The office was responsible for co-ordination of ...

References

{{authority control Organizations established in 1965 Innovation in the United Kingdom Learned societies of the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom Science education in the United Kingdom 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom