Battery Agnotology and the Roots of the Tobacco Strategy

Professor Joseph D. Martin (Durham University)

17 November 2026, 4pm
CHSTM Seminar Room: Simon 2.57 [maps and travel]
Online Access: TBC

Abstract

The ‘tobacco strategy’, engineered to throw doubt on scientific consensus, was hatched in the mid-1950s as the epidemiological connection between smoking and lung cancer was becoming irrefutable. It has since been deployed to stymie regulation of fossil fuels, pesticides, and all manner of industrial effluent. But although its rise and dissemination are well documented, its origins remain murky. I propose a new origin story. 

In December 1953, tobacco company executives met in New York to plot their response to the solidifying consensus that cigarettes caused cancer. This much is well documented. Less well explored is the context that likely informed their discussions. In the months leading up to that fateful meeting, the national press reported closely on a controversy over battery additives. Jess Ritchie, a California entrepreneur, had sought relief from the new Dwight Eisenhower administration after his product, a packet of salts meant to prolong the life of car batteries, was declared useless by the US National Bureau of Standards. Allen Astin, the bureau’s director, was fired. The ensuing outcry from the scientific community led to Astin’s reinstatement, but also to months of public controversy, including high-profile Senate hearings, in which the Ritchie called NBS testing into question. As Astin was reinstated, all regulatory action against Ritchie’s company was also lifted.

This talk shows how Jess Ritchie brought together the central components of what later became known as the tobacco strategy, and in doing so set an example of successful doubt mongering. The case that the tobacco executives looked to Ritchie for inspiration remains circumstantial, but the circumstances are powerfully compelling. And at minimum, attending to this case is essential for appreciating the context in which the tobacco strategy was crafted.

Joseph D. Martin is a historian (and occasional philosopher) of science and technology at the Durham University Department of History, where he teaches about the history of modern science and technology and writes about the history of twentieth-century scientific institutions and ideals. Please visit his personal website for more information

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