Le régime de recherche utilitaire du professeur-consultant au cours de la Seconde Révolution industrielle
J.F. Auger
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Abstract
This article examines the advent of the consulting professor in universities during the Second In-dustrial Revolution. Several cases of consulting professor have been investigated; but no clear ex-planation of the global phenomenon has been putted forward. This article claims that some profes-sors adopted a utilitarian research regime to accommodate the growing laboratory needs of indus-trial companies. Indeed these professors were adjusting their material and intellectual production to produce consulting reports, short advices through verbal and written communication. In addi-tion they were taking patents on some industrial innovation and taking an active role in the society by promoting a vision in which laboratory services by the university were essential to economic development. The article also explains the decrease of this activity during the twentieth century by the progressive implementation of research and development departments in private firms.