"4Fs and WOMEN and the GRACE of GOD"

The Official History of Vannevar Bush's famous wartime science agency the OSRD, home to World War Two's 'elitist science' , is called "ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR" and was written by Dr Irvin Stewart.

In discussing penicillin and the medical section of the OSRD, Stewart claims that "Laboratories cannot be run by 4-Fs or Women or by the Grace of God alone." (Page 107).

Well, I know a great book or movie title when I see one and so I took up Irvin Stewart's intended insult to 4Fs and Women (and God) with relish.

Two 4F doctors called Dawson and Hunter together with three women scientists called Hobby,Chaffee and Olmstead could run a lab very well indeed ------and did more than anyone else to bring us NATURAL penicillin in time for the D-Day beaches and all those wounded young soldiers.

And the Grace of God no doubt came in handy a lot....