The Princeton Three facts for kids

The Princeton Three was a special group of three smart thinkers from Princeton University during the time known as the Cold War. The Cold War was a period when the United States and the Soviet Union were in a big competition, but without direct fighting. Two of the men, Eugene Wigner and John Archibald Wheeler, were physicists who studied how the world works at a very basic level. The third person, Oskar Morgenstern, was an expert in political economy, which is about how governments and money work together.

Their main goal was to create a new, important science laboratory in the United States. They wanted this lab to help America catch up to the Soviet Union in building powerful long-range missiles, called Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs). They also hoped it would help the U.S. win the race to explore space. The idea for this lab was that top university scientists would work there full-time. They would have all the information they needed about the country's military needs. They would also be free from too many rules or security checks, so they could focus on their research. Their work would help improve the country's defense systems and other important projects.

Why a New Lab Was Needed

Before the idea of the Princeton Three's lab, the U.S. government had a group called the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG). This group was set up in 1949 by the Department of Defense (DOD) to do research for the military.

However, jobs at WSEG didn't pay very well and weren't seen as very important by other scientists. To fix this, in 1955, the Secretary of Defense, Charles E. Wilson, asked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for help. MIT is a very famous university for science and technology. The plan was for MIT to help manage WSEG. This would make the jobs more respected and offer better pay.

MIT agreed to help. Then, other top universities like the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Stanford also joined in. Together, they formed a non-profit group called The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in 1956. This allowed them to hire scientists as university staff, which meant better pay and more respect for their work.

The Idea of a National Science Lab Begins

The main person who started the idea for a national laboratory was John Archibald Wheeler, a professor at Princeton University. After World War II, Wheeler helped create the hydrogen bomb. He then returned to Princeton and started a project called Project Matterhorn B. This allowed him to work on military projects while still teaching at the university.

Wheeler was worried that too many physicists were only interested in theory. He believed scientists should be actively discovering new things and working with new inventions. He felt they should not just plan how to use existing technology. His idea for a national laboratory would take a long time to develop. But with help from people like Senator Henry Jackson and professor Edward Teller, the idea grew. It started with an advisory committee for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is a group of countries that work together for defense. This committee's ideas helped shape the plan for an American national laboratory.

Wheeler's Big Plan

After working with the NATO committee, Wheeler thought the United States should do something similar, but much bigger. In October 1957, he wrote to William E. Wright, who was in charge of nuclear physics for the U.S. Navy. Wheeler shared his idea for a national laboratory that would be like the NATO committee, but on a larger scale.

Around the same time, Wheeler also thought about how to improve science education in the U.S. He saw that while many students were learning science, not enough new discoveries were being made. He believed that the best way to deal with the Soviet Union's scientific progress was not just more education. Instead, he proposed a new Advanced Research Projects Agency. He talked to other important scientists and members of the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) about his ideas.

Wheeler believed that a new lab would help focus national defense efforts and encourage new ideas. Since he was a professor, he knew how well people could work together in a campus-like setting. He imagined a place where scientists could work together but also have their own space for research. He wanted a national laboratory similar to the one the government created for bomb testing at Los Alamos during World War II.

A former colleague, Kenneth Watson, wrote to Wheeler about how disappointing defense research was at the time. Many researchers seemed to avoid hard work, and defense agencies spent more time talking about their jobs than actually doing them.

The Princeton Three Work Together

As Wheeler shared his idea for the national laboratory, two of his colleagues became very interested. These two, Eugene Wigner and Oskar Morgenstern, would join him to form the Princeton Three. On January 2, 1958, Wheeler met with them and other Princeton faculty to discuss the lab. Wigner and Morgenstern fully supported Wheeler's idea and gave him credit for it.

The three men sent their first proposal for the lab to the IDA. However, it was turned down. The IDA agreed that defense was important and that scientists should work for the government. But they worried that taking too many top scientists out of universities would make science education worse for future students. Wheeler read their response and made changes to his proposal for a second try.

A Second Try for the Lab

After the first proposal was rejected, Wheeler worked hard to improve it. He sent the second version on January 9, 1958. At this time, President Eisenhower was trying to increase the defense budget. He wanted to spend more money on national security and missile defense. The new budget suggested almost $40 billion for defense, which was a big increase.

Wheeler tried to use this to his advantage. In his second proposal, he asked the DOD to use this money to create a research and development (R&D) lab similar to the Du Pont company's R&D lab. A part of his proposal even appeared in a New York Times article about Eisenhower's budget. However, the head of the IDA, President Stern, still said no. He believed there was no need for such a large defense effort during a time of peace.

The End of the Idea

Wheeler sent out a third proposal, but it was also turned down. This ended his hopes for a national defense laboratory. The Princeton Three worked hard to push for their idea, but in the end, Wheeler's plan was not approved, and the idea of the lab slowly faded away.