Science and politics are intertwined subsystems of society. They have their own logic but they are mutually dependent on each other and should be analysed together. This is the starting point of this volume of ten articles published by Helmuth Trischler and Mark Walker. The focus is on physics in the twentieth century. Seven articles deal with German science; one article each focuses on the Soviet Union, China and Japan.

Helmuth Trischler gives an outline of the research agenda of the volume. His analytical concept ‘frames science as a societal force which provides resources for other subsystems of society’ but also ‘consumes resources of other systems’ (p. 10). The essays discuss the agency of physicists in their relationship with the state and the interdependence of science, politics and economics.

Mark Walker gives an overview of the scholarly literature on the history of science and science funding in Germany in the twentieth century. During the First World War, science funding was mainly focused on helping the German war effort. After the war had ended, the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Foundation for German Science) attempted to distribute resources such that they would both be economically useful and offer evidence of the high standard of German science in an international comparison. Under Nazi rule the Notgemeinschaft was renamed Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) and became the most important funding body for science in Germany. Allied occupation and changing research priorities after the Second World War brought some institutional and personnel changes, but the continuities are quite astonishing. The exchange between science and politics worked well and the support system for science was one of the reasons for the high standard of physics in Germany.

The next chapter (by Alexander von Schwerin) analyses the relationship between physics and the life sciences. He shows the importance of X-ray technology in bringing the medical sciences, biology and physics together, which then developed into the new field of biophysics.

Using the example of the University of Göttingen, Gerhard Rammer analyses the denazification of German physics under Allied control. The Allies relied in the denazification of science on leading German scientists with anti-fascist credentials or, failing that, on those who at least did not have an overt Nazi past. The author shows that this self-denazification did not extend very far. Established scientists chose their colleagues based on their professional capacity, ‘character’ and collegial ties. Even physicists who had been heavily involved with National Socialism were acceptable if they met the other conditions. On the other hand, physicists who had not collaborated with the Nazis or had even suffered during the period of Nazi rule were not accepted if they violated the principle of collegiality. Richard Beyler's essay fits in well here. He shows how German scientists used the argument of physics as a ‘pure’ un-ideological science to distance themselves retrospectively from National Socialism. After the war, scientists successfully identified the science carried out during the Third Reich with Nazi pseudo-science (termed ‘Aryan’ or ‘German’ science). This ignored the fact that this ‘Aryan’ science only represented part of the science policy implemented under National Socialism. The Nazi leadership exploited the knowledge and work of non-ideological scientists, who in turn exploited the interest of the state in their research to pursue their professional and personal interests. This ideal of a non-political science survived in West Germany during the Cold War, when it was identified with freedom and was contrasted with the (ideologized) science of the Eastern Bloc.

The Cold War was also the time when – as a result of the existence of nuclear weapons – discussion about the social responsibility of scientists began. Two essays discuss the role of physics as a public science and the participation of leading physicists such as Werner Heisenberg or Walter Gerlach in public debates. Martin Strickmann's essay looks at scientists as intellectuals. He shows that in the 1950s West German and French nuclear physicists began to perceive themselves also as intellectuals and to participate in political debates. Their reputation as ‘non-ideological’ scientists helped them play an important role in these debates. While in the case of French scientists political involvement was often based on the experience of resistance during the Second World War and had a pro-communist connotation, their West German colleagues were for the most part anti-communist but drew the same conclusions as many of their French colleagues from their experience with dictatorship: both groups refused to participate in the building of a nuclear bomb and opposed nuclear weapons.

Two essays discuss the pattern of science funding in the Federal Republic of Germany. Cathryn Carson's informative chapter deals with the second phase of CERN's programme to develop advanced accelerators. It shows the return of the Federal Republic of Germany to traditional funding patterns. The decision of the West German government to participate in this programme was informed by competition with the United States and an emphasis on European collaboration in big science. Helmuth Albrecht deals with the funding of laser research by the German Research Foundation in the 1960s.

In a joint article, Paul Josephson, Yury Ranyuk, Ivan Tsekhmistro and Karl Hall tell the story of the Ukrainian Physical Technical Institute in Kharkiv under Stalin, where scientists were forced to carry out their research under extremely unfavourable conditions. Limited resources, the drain of good scientists to Leningrad and Moscow, and the effects of the Great Terror all affected the work of the Kharkiv Institute. Taking account of the conditions under which these scientists had to work makes their scientific results all the more impressive. The last two articles have a global perspective and look at physicists in Japan after the war (Morris Low) and at physics in China during the Cold War (Zuoyue Wang), where again the interrelationship between science and politics becomes evident.

The volume is of interest for specialists of the history of science, especially of German science policy and the role of scientists in society. The chapters on the Soviet Union, China and Japan put the German developments in a global context but could have been integrated better in the volume, which is published as part of a series on the history of the German Research Foundation.