Scientific Research

The ethics of scientific research are a problem, Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of the History of Science, said, because it is unclear to whom scientists are accountable for their work.

Mendelsohn and Miriam Schweber, research associate in Biology, discussed yesterday "Ethical Choices for Science" as part of a symposium at the Cronkhite Graduate Center.

Addressing the topic "Nuclear Energy, Weapons, and Scientists," Mendelsohn said scientists have followed the notion that "expert knowledge and technique are for hire."

The original research to develop the atomic bomb was governed by a "strong ethos to win a war," Mendelsohn said, adding, however, this was secondary to the scientists' desire to achieve technical success.

Schweber, noting that there is "no regulation at all at the application level," only at the research level, finds fault in a political system which says "how knowledge can be acquired but not how it can be applied."

She said there is a conflict of interest when scientists, who are the "motive intellectual power" for private industry and research, are also "the regulators at the national level of what should or should not be done" in scientific research.