Chris Freeman, the founder and first director of the Science Policy Research Unit introduces Bernal, the father of the protein crystallography techniques which enabled the double helix structure of DNA to be unravelled.

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Bernal's major impact on scientific research in the post-war industrialised economies through his 1939 treatise "The Social Function of Science" is discussed. The presentation and ensuing debate also probe the complex political pressures to which Bernal was subject during the period 1930-60.