Science on display: research exhibitions in interwar Washington

Rau, Eric P.As scientists who espoused basic research tried to organize for its support during the interwar era, they strove to find means to communicate recent developments to both the public and each other. Two prominent establishments in American science, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the National Academy of Sciences, implemented exhibition schemes, which featured dynamic displays with contemporary basic scientific themes, as part of these communication experiments. Members of the scientific community used these exhibits in their struggle to create a new visual vocabulary in an era when research was becoming increasingly specialized and to distinguish themselves from the magical connotations of science that corporations presented at World's Fairs. This thesis provides a close examination of these exhibitions, revealing the role they performed in institutional efforts to strike a balance between conversation among scientists and communication to the public as well as their contribution to the establishment of modern science museum exhibit techniques.M.A.University of Delaware, Winterthur Program in American Material Cultur