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I'm taking an (obligatory...) course in "Scientific history" at university level. It mainly consists of a written project: ~20 pages and oral presentation.

I have planned to study the status of fundamental physics research throughout history, or more exactly from ~1900, by picking a number of events/areas (Einstein's relativity, the formulation of QM, nuclear research prior to WW2, QFT, string theory, the search for new fundamental particles) and see how society influenced them, and how they influenced society. The question I pose concern e.g. how governments/people in general/scientists have viewed the funding of directly non-applicable research, what geographical differences can be seen and how these findings have evolved during the 20th century and onwards.

That's the plan, at least. With this question I'm looking for input in the subject, and I'm very interested in literature suggestions (papers/blogs/traditional books). I am currently writing my MSc thesis in fundamental physics, and the course is given at BSc level, to give an idea of which level it concerns.

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This question's bound to get closed as off-topic. A quick comment first. If I were your instructor, I'd much rather see a narrower focus rather than a broader one. You say that you're going to treat "a number" of topics. May I recommend the number 1? (Or at most 2 or 3?) You'll end up with a much better paper if you dig deeply into a small number of topics. Similarly, I shivered when I read that you were going to write about "how society influenced them, and how they influenced society." That's much, much too broad! At the end of the paragraph, you get somewhat more specific, fortunately. – Ted Bunn Apr 3 '11 at 20:43
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I'm closing this for a couple of reasons: for one thing, as Ted pointed out, it is rather off topic since what you're asking about is really politics and sociology, not physics. Besides, it's a very broad question, probably too broad to give an effective answer to in this format even if it were about physics. – David Zaslavsky♦ Apr 3 '11 at 21:12
For closure: I've decided to focus on CERN as a project, discussing from which movements the project originated (e.g. fight against scientific post-war exodus to America) and how it and its consequences has been viewed by society and state. I feel history is a big part of physics (and why else would there be a "History"-tag?), but I respect the decision to close the question, and won't argue about it. – Daniel Andersson Apr 6 '11 at 23:49

closed as off topic by Sklivvz♦, David Zaslavsky♦ Apr 3 '11 at 21:10

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