著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. [第III期] (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.53, no.272, pp.379-396, 2015-01-31

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This paper analyzes the distribution of the Subsidiary Fund for Scientific Research, a predecessor to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), which operated in Japan from the 1930s to 1950s. It reveals that the Japanese government maintained this wide-ranging promotion system since its establishment during the war until well into the postwar period. Previous studies insist that, at the end of the war, the Japanese government generally only funded the research that it considered immediately and practically useful. In contrast to this general perception, my analysis illustrates that both before and after the war, funding was allotted to four research areas: natural science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine. In order to illuminate this continuity, I compare the Subsidiary Fund with another research fund existing from 1933 to 1947: the Grant of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The comparison demonstrates that the JSPS received externally raised capital from the military and munitions companies. However, while this group focused upon engineering and military-related research as the war dragged on, the Subsidiary Fund has consistently entrusted scientists with the authority to decide the allocation of financial support.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. [第Ⅲ期] = Journal of history of science, Japan. 日本科学史学会 編 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

no.272, pp.379-396, 2015-01

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This paper analyzes the distribution of the Subsidiary Fund for Scientific Research, a predecessor to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), which operated in Japan from the 1930s to 1950s. It reveals that the Japanese government maintained this wide-ranging promotion system since its establishment during the war until well into the postwar period. Previous studies insist that, at the end of the war, the Japanese government generally only funded the research that it considered immediately and practically useful. In contrast to this general perception, my analysis illustrates that both before and after the war, funding was allotted to four research areas: natural science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine. In order to illuminate this continuity, I compare the Subsidiary Fund with another research fund existing from 1933 to 1947: the Grant of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The comparison demonstrates that the JSPS received externally raised capital from the military and munitions companies. However, while this group focused upon engineering and military-related research as the war dragged on, the Subsidiary Fund has consistently entrusted scientists with the authority to decide the allocation of financial support.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.266, pp.70-80, 2013-06-25

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In World War II, when Japan was under a scientific blockade, the Ministry of Education provided a science and technology information service, such as summary reports of foreign journals and translations of foreign books. The information service covered a wide area of scientific investigation. Although the Japanese government advocated an emphasis on wartime research at its August 1943 Cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Education continued to expand the information service. Previous studies give no details on how these science-promoting measures were adopted in wartime. This paper, using the Inumaru Records in Japan's National Diet Library, reveals that the information service started and expanded through a loose coalition between scientists and Ministry of Education officials. Inumaru Hideo( 1904-1990) was a Ministry of Education official who took charge of the information service. In August 1942, the Ministry started a summary reports service for German academic journals in response to scientist complaints about the blockade. The Ministry left the choice of journals up to scientists, and the reports service continued to expand until late 1944. In July 1943, the Ministry started a translation project for foreign books, addressing a decline in students' academic ability resulting from a cut in higher-education requirements. In the project, textbooks in various fields translated into Japanese, and the translation project continued after the war.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.266, pp.65-69, 2013 (Released:2021-07-12)

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.266, pp.70-80, 2013 (Released:2021-07-12)

---

In World War II, when Japan was under a scientific blockade, the Ministry of Education provided a science and technology information service, such as summary reports of foreign journals and translations of foreign books. The information service covered a wide area of scientific investigation. Although the Japanese government advocated an emphasis on wartime research at its August 1943 Cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Education continued to expand the information service. Previous studies give no details on how these science-promoting measures were adopted in wartime. This paper, using the Inumaru Records in Japan's National Diet Library, reveals that the information service started and expanded through a loose coalition between scientists and Ministry of Education officials. Inumaru Hideo( 1904-1990) was a Ministry of Education official who took charge of the information service. In August 1942, the Ministry started a summary reports service for German academic journals in response to scientist complaints about the blockade. The Ministry left the choice of journals up to scientists, and the reports service continued to expand until late 1944. In July 1943, the Ministry started a translation project for foreign books, addressing a decline in students' academic ability resulting from a cut in higher-education requirements. In the project, textbooks in various fields translated into Japanese, and the translation project continued after the war.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.264, pp.210-219, 2012 (Released:2021-07-20)

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In 1939, Japan's Ministry of Education established the Subsidiary Fund for Scientific Research, a predecessor to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), which supported basic scientific research in Japan. The budget of this Fund was twice the sum of the existing research grants. Even though the Second Sino-Japanese War was in progress, the Ministry of Education emphasized the need for basic scientific research. Previous studies site impact of scientific blockade against Japan or then Minister's influence as main reason for Establishment of the Subsidiary Fund for Scientific Research. However, the ban was not serious in 1939; in fact, from 1936 to 1940, foreign books and magazines were available in Japan. The Ministry of Education had started searching for new ways to promote science and its study well before the change in government. Therefore, the information from previous studies is inadequate. In this paper, the author focuses on the "unsustainable development of applied research" during the Second Sino-Japanese War. When the war started, the scientific community started providing applied research in response to wartime demands. Scientists started working towards allaying the shortage in natural resources and military material that had been brought about by the economic block against Japan. It became obvious then that a lack of talented scientists, scientific facilities, and research funds were hindering the progress of applied research. Scientists started asking the Ministry of Education to swiftly employ measures to promote science. This resulted in the Ministry establishing the Subsidiary Fund for Scientific Research. In prewar Japan, the environment for academic research was very poor; due to this, a single-minded focus on applied research was unsustainable.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.255, pp.174-178, 2010 (Released:2021-08-02)

著者

里深 文彦 山口 直樹 大橋 由紀夫 堤 一郎 石井 香江 山根 伸洋 田原 啓祐 溝口 元 小林 学 岡田 大士 水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.238, pp.105-128, 2006 (Released:2021-08-11)

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, no.229, pp.22-30, 2004 (Released:2021-08-12)

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The research and development of the aeronautical technology was relatively independently pursued by various sectors during the Asia-Pacific War(1931-1945) : Manufacturing companies developed aircraft prototypes based upon the Army and the Navy request. The Army and the Navy undertook research works at their own research institutes. When the Technology Board(Gijutsuin) was established at the beginning of 1942 as a central governmental agency for mobilizing science and technology, aeronautical research was selected as one of the major objectives. This paper shows that aeronautical research conducted in the Aeronautical Institute of Tokyo Imperial University and such institutions under the Technology Board like the National Central Aeronautical Institute was strongly affected by the Army's request to the research institutions outside the Army. The Army consistently insisted that the aeronautical institutions should conduct applied research more. Until 1937 the Army had been critical of the Aeronautical Institute of Tokyo Imperial University as conducting only academic research. The institute then accepted the applied research that the Army outsourced to the institute. In 1941 just before the war broke out the Army required the reform of the research. In the Army's perspective, the institutes outside should develop such new technologies as high altitude flight. The Army tried to bring in the new agendas based upon their survey on German recent research system. The Technology Board made the plan for setting up the new aeronautical institutes including the National Central Aeronautical Institute just to meet the Army's request, and the aeronautical institutes under the board undertook these research agendas in a piecemeal way.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.42, no.225, pp.31-39, 2003 (Released:2021-08-13)

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The Technology Board (Gijutsuin) was established as a central organization for the mobilization of science and technology in World War II Japan. It is well known that the Technology Board gave priority to the aviation technology to meet the Army's requests. The preceding studies have paid attention to the role of the technocrats in making the board and depicted that the Army's requests "distorted" their original plan. This paper deals with the Army's plans for advancement of civil aviation in 1930s. The Army made the plan for "the Ministry of Aviation (Kokusho)" and "the Central Aeronautical Institute". The Navy and the Department of Communications (Teishinsho) opposed the plan from political motivation, so the Army's plan has never come into existence. The Navy and the Department of Communications set up together the National Central Aeronautical Institute, and the Army left out of scheme. To recapture the initiative, the Army asserted that the Technology Board should give priority to the aviation technology, and that the National Central Aeronautical Institute should be placed under the control of the Technology Board. The view that the Army's requests "distorted" the original plan by the technocrats is, therefore, one-sided way of looking at things.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究 (ISSN:21887535)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.58, no.292, pp.393-399, 2020 (Released:2021-01-24)

著者

水沢 光 松浦 晶子

出版者

国立公文書館

雑誌

北の丸 : 国立公文書館報 (ISSN:02865750)

巻号頁・発行日

no.52, pp.61-77, 2020-03

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.266, pp.65-69, 2013-06-25