Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Neil deGrasse TysonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Like it or not astrophysicists and the military are in an unholy alliance. Astrophysicists are generally peace loving people who want to make scientific studies for the sake of knowledge of for liking he sake of helping humanity. Military people want the discoveries to achieve dominance in the arena of battle. No two mentality could be further apart.
Who get the funding? Why of course military spending trumps all. Science experiments get little funding. So if astrophysicists want to carry their project forward it has to be militarily viable. Certain items that get discovered by scientist end up being used by the military. Hence we see the two fields intertwined.
Take for example the telescope. It was used for stargazing at first then later on it was used during the Revolutionary War to spy out enemy troops. The telescope theme grows even further as we use satellite to monitor cosmic phenomena. The military and government now use satellite to monitor people kind of like big brother. The satellite can also be armed with missile or lasers.
The book is long and at times dry but filled with facts. It is a good document examines the history of the military science relationship. Great insight from two great scientific minds.
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