| A physiologist by training, an engineer by disposition, and leader by intellectual inclination, Dr. Omond McKillop Solandt's introduction to state-directed science was a direct result of British war needs for scientific and technical manpower. His career paralleled the increased importance and value of science as a tool for the government's war effort across a spectrum of fields. These fields included management of blood transfusion and civil defence, operational research and army science management, and casualty research in the atomic battleground of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Returning to Canada in 1945, Solandt's career reached its zenith when he became chairman of the newly created Defence Research Board. As chairman he acted as a scientific chief of staff, the chief executive of a multi-disciplined defence research service, and scientific advisor to three Ministers of National Defence. Examining Solandt's decade-long chairmanship provides a unique map into Canada's defence research agenda in the technologically and politically defined Cold War era that included continental defence, international science cooperation between Canada, Britain, and the US, and weapons of mass destruction.;As part of the growing literature on the history of science and government during the Second World War and Cold War in Britain and Canada, this thesis both chronicles and analyzes the career of Dr. Solandt. While Solandt's contributions to British and Canadian war and post-war defence science were appreciated by contemporaries, noted by official government histories, and acknowledged by historians, none have attempted either a detailed biographical analysis of his life or established his contribution within the broader historical framework of the growth in state science during the world war and Cold War. Both of these goals form the heart of this thesis.;Managing science within the unique environment of government and the military became Solandt's arena of intellectual acumen. He successfully navigated and led unconventional science organizations to success against initial resistance from domestic opposition, formulated successful working relationships with industry and academia, and harnessed science for effective government projects. His career provides a case study for understanding the increasing importance and complex relationships of state-directed science in war and peace at the heart of the twentieth century, and how such a relationship can surmount the formidable challenges it faces.;Keywords: Omond Solandt, Charles Best, Charles Foulkes, Brooke Claxton, C. D. Howe, L. B. Pearson, Basil Schonland, Solly Zuckerman, Laurie Chute, Charles Ellis, Edward Mellanby, Bernard Law Montgomery, British History, Canadian History, Physiology, Polio Epidemic, Operational Research, Military History, Medical History, Science History, Technology History, Armoured Warfare, Atomic Warfare, Biological Warfare, Chemical Warfare, Continental Defence, Science Management, Guided Missiles, Mid Canada Line, McGill Fence, Canadian Foreign Relations, Canadian Science, British Science, Blood Transfusion, The Battle of Britain, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Scientific Advice, Brainwashing, The Second World War, The Cold War. |
