Cold War Organizations and Climate Research 1n the1950s began with the
Office of Naval Research invested in research and development to understand
environmental issues better From the late 1940s into the 1960s, many of the
papers cited in these essays carried a thought-provoking footnote: “This work
was supported by the Office of Naval Research.” The ONR’s work is a well-
known chapter in the history of American science. In 1945, as the war effort
wound down and scientists worried about where they would find support, the
United States Navy decided to fund basic research. The other military services
soon followed. Their support reflected a recognition among some officers
that they would need scientists for many purposes. The war had been
shortened, if not decided, by radar, the atomic bomb, and dozens of other
scientific devices barely imagined a decade earlier. Who could guess what
basic research might turn up next?
