Science promised to society to contribute to the grand challenges of the United Nations, WHO, the EU agenda and national agendas for change and improvement of our life. It will be discussed how this social contract between science and society has developed since 1945. The first phase from 1945 till 1960 was characterized by autonomy, building on the successes of the natural sciences and engineering in World War II. In the second phase, the late 1960s till approximately 1980, govern-ment and the public lost trust and saw the downside of science and technology. The response from politics and the public was a call for societal and political responsible research inspired by broader socio-political developments in society.