Accompanying the declines in DOD and 

 NASA were recent increases in the fractions 

 provided by HEW and NSF, with the former 

 accounting for 23 percent of total obligations in 

 1974 (versus 17 percent in 1960), and the latter 

 16 percent (versus 11 percent in 1960). Much of 

 the growth in HEW's share during the period 

 occurred in 1973 and 1974 in connection with 

 increased funding for cancer research; similarly, 

 a large part of the growth in NSF's share took 

 place in the years after 1970, as a result of 



increasing obligations for basic research in 

 virtually all major scientific disciplines. 



Basic research obligations in scientific areas. 



An overview of the distribution of Federal 

 support for basic research by scientific area is 

 presented in figure 3-6.^° The five broad areas 

 shown in the figure accounted for 95 percent of 



If See Appendix table 3-6 for disaggregated data for 

 certain disciplines and Appendix table 3-6a for a listing of the 

 scientific disciplines encompassed in these broad fields. 



Figure 3-5 



Federal Obligations for Basic Research, by Selected Fields of Science, 1960-74 



Current dollars 



Constant 1967 dollars' 



(Dollars in Millions) 

 900 



800 



(Dollars in Millions) 



Physical sciences 



700 



600 



500 



400 



300 



200 



100 



800 



/ / V' 

 / 



r Engineering ^^^^ 



^— 



>^.^^ 



Environmental sciences jT'^ 



/ ^- ^'^' s^j- 



\.^ 



Social sciences 



I i I I L 



100 



- • 



»••«..»»** 



Engineering ,^^ .^ 



Social sciences 



T' I I 



I960 '62 '64 '66 '68 70 72 74 



(est) 



' GNP implicil price deflators used to convert 

 current dollars to constant 1967 dollars. 

 SOURCE National Science Foundation. 



I960 '62 '64 '66 '68 70 72 74 



(est.) 



58 



