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Science policy and more generally the study of the effects of science and technology on society, did not become an active field of study until after World War II. The proliferation of research and development following the War, together with the awareness of possible nuclear destruction, caused many to abandon the model of the scientist alone in his lab, divorced from the larger society, unaffected by it and not affecting it. This "ivory tower" model has been replaced by model of accountable scientists and technologists in need some notion of their relation to the greater society. It toward refining this latter model that a growing number of scientists and humanists are directing their efforts.