| OSRD | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 28, 1941 (1941-06-28) |
| Preceding agency | |
| Dissolved | December 1947 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | United States Government |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Agency executive | |
| Parent agency | Office for Emergency Management |
| Child agencies | |
TheOffice of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of theUnited States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes duringWorld War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1941, and it was created formally by Executive Order 8807 on June 28, 1941.[1][2] It superseded the work of theNational Defense Research Committee (NDRC), was given almost unlimited access to funding and resources, and was directed byVannevar Bush, who reported only to PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt.
The research was widely varied, and included projects devoted to new and more accuratebombs, reliable detonators, work on theproximity fuze,guided missiles,radar and early-warning systems, lighter and more accurate hand weapons, more effective medical treatments (including work to makepenicillin at scale, which was necessary for its use as a drug[3]), more versatile vehicles, and, the most secret of all, theS-1 Section, which later became theManhattan Project and developed the firstatomic weapons.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
