Historians, philosophers, and physicists portray the 1920s and 1930s as a period of major theoretical breakthrough in physics, quantum mechanics, which led to the expansion of physics into the core of the atom and the growth and strengthening of the discipline. These important developments in scientific inquiry into the micro-world and light have turned historical attention away from other significant historical processes and from other equally important causes for the expansion of physics. World War II, on the other hand, is often seen as the watershed moment when physics achieved new levels of social and technical engagement at a truly industrial scale. Historians have shown that military interests and government funding have shaped physics to unprecedented degree, and according to some, to the extent of discontinuity with earlier practices of research (Forman 1987; Kevles 1990; Kaiser 2002). In this vein, Stuart Leslie wrote, “Nothing in the prewar experience fully prepared academic scientists and their institutions for the scale and scope of a wartime mobilization that would transform the university, industry, and the federal government and their mutual interrelationships” (Leslie 1993, 6). While one can never befullyready for novelties, the contributors to this issue show that developments in interwar physics did prepare participants for their cold war interactions with industry and government.

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简介：两次世界大战期间的物理、技术和工艺

历史学家、哲学家和物理学家将 1920 年代和 1930 年代描述为物理学、量子力学的重大理论突破时期，这导致物理学扩展到原子的核心以及学科的发展和加强。对微观世界和光的科学探究的这些重要发展已经将历史注意力从其他重要的历史过程和其他同样重要的物理学扩展原因转移开来。另一方面，第二次世界大战通常被视为物理学在真正的工业规模上达到新的社会和技术参与水平的分水岭。历史学家已经表明，军事利益和政府资助已将物理学塑造到前所未有的程度，据一些人说，到与早期研究实践的不连续性（Forman 1987；Kevles 1990；Kaiser 2002）。在这方面，斯图尔特莱斯利写道：“在战前的经验中，学术科学家和他们的机构没有为战时动员的规模和范围做好充分准备，这将改变大学、工业和联邦政府及其相互关系”（Leslie 1993 , 6)。虽然一个人永远不可能完全准备好迎接新奇事物，本期的撰稿人表明，两次世界大战间物理学的发展确实让参与者为他们与工业界和政府的冷战互动做好了准备。