The author provides a detailed analysis of both the sustainable impacts of the profound socio-political changes at the beginning of the 20th century on the scientific system and the scientific work of Max Steenbeck. By employing a methodological approach that combines the concept of resources with that of research technologies, the study opens new perspectives on the relationships between research structures and research practices, as well as the role of a natural scientist in fundamentally different research settings following the major upheavals in the worldview of physics.