dations had excluded them. Sensitive to this histo- 

 ry and to other pressures, NSF had used its origi- 

 nal authority "to initiate and support basic scien- 

 tific research . . . in . . . other sciences"-^-^^ with 

 great caution. Certain social science research pro- 

 jects which were closely related to the life sci- 

 ences and physical sciences were started with 

 funding of $20,(X)0 in 1954. Support of this type of 

 research had grown to over $14 million, or 5.7 

 percent of NSF's total budget, by 1968. This im- 

 portant field now represents 6. 1 percent of NSF's 

 total program expenditures. 



In its first year, 1951, NSF had a total budget of 

 $225,000, and it did not administer any funds for 

 research. The following year it reported basic re- 

 search obligations of $869,000 in the life sciences 

 and $375,000 in the physical sciences. 334 in 1968, 

 just before the new legislation, NSF obligations 

 were reported as $257.4 million for research, of 

 which $251.6 million was for basic research. The 

 small amount of applied research was divided 

 among several fields, chiefly the life sciences and 

 the social sciences. 335 NSF's applied research has 

 grown significantly in response to the 1968 man- 

 date. Estimated total research obligations for 1977 

 are $674.5 million, of which $605.8 million is for 

 basic research. The distribution of funds for the 

 1977 basic research program according to fields of 

 science is $164.6 million for the physical sciences, 

 $138.6 million for the environmental sciences, 

 $113.4 million for the life sciences, $68.2 million 

 for engineering, $37.4 million for mathematics, 

 $37.1 million for the social sciences, $10.0 million 

 for psychology, and $36.5 million for other sci- 

 ences. 336 



Department of Transportation 



The Department of Transportation (DOT) re- 

 ports a small amount of basic research in its sec- 

 tion of Part I. This research may be considered 

 basic in a broad sense but not within NSF's defi- 

 nition of basic research and hence is not reported 

 for inclusion as basic research in the Federal 

 Funds series. Historically, there have been some 

 misleading fluctuations in the Federal Funds data, 

 which DOT ascribes to changing definitions of ba- 

 sic research within and among agencies. 



"'Sec. 3 (a) (2). National Science Foundation Act of 1950. 

 ^^"Federal Funds. Vol. I. Table A; Vol. II. Table B-7. 

 ^^"^ Federal Funds. Vol. XVIII. NSF 69-31, Table C-14. C-33. 

 and C-5:. 



'""Fec/eni/ Funds. Vol. XXVI. NSF 77-317, Tables C-15 and 

 C-34. 



364 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 



When it was under the Treasury Department, 

 the Coast Guard (CG) reported some basic re- 

 search from 1961 on. The amount steadily in- 

 creased from $133,000 in 1961 to $812,000 in 1965. 

 In 1966, and for three quarters of 1967, the CG 

 was still under Treasury but the data in Federal 

 Funds are tabulated under DOT and the obligations 

 reported for basic research are $4.5 million and 

 $6.0 million. For the next 3 years, under DOT, 

 the reported figures are even higher, reaching 

 $11.1 million in 1970, but then plunging to $43,000 

 in 1971 and finally disappearing altogether in 1976. 

 The Science Advisor to the Commandant confirms 

 that the present report of no basic research is cor- 

 rect, and there is no evidence that the actual pro- 

 gram fluctuated greatly. 



Similarly, the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) 

 before its transfer to DOT had a modest program 

 of basic research under Commerce, indicated by 

 $59,000 in obligations reported for 1952 in engi- 

 neering and social sciences. This grew rather 

 gradually to $743,000 in 1965. Commerce planned 

 $1.3 million and $1.7 million for the following 2 

 years; although all but the last quarters were ac- 

 tually under Commerce, the figures tabulated 

 under DOT as actual obligations for these years 

 are $2.0 million and $6.4 million. BPR's reported 

 obligations for basic research also tumbled from 

 $7.4 million in 1970 to $134,000 in 1971, and to 

 zero in 1973. The same sharp drop is found in the 

 figures reported for the Federal Highway Admin- 

 istration (FHA), which started at $6.4 million for 

 basic research in 1967, grew slightly to $7.4 mil- 

 lion in 1970, dropped to $134,000 in 1971, and 

 reached zero in 1973. On the other hand, some 

 basic research was started in the Secretary's 

 office at the same time research in the CG, BPR, 

 and FHA was declining. This is demonstrated by 

 reported obligations of $153,000 for the first year, 

 1971, and $100,000 in the final year, 1974. This 

 research was all in engineering except for the first 

 year when several other fields were also inclu- 

 ded. 337 



In 1972 DOT started a university research pro- 

 gram. Discussions with staff members in the 

 University Research Office of DOT indicate that 

 this program has not had a large basic research 

 component. It was used first to make university 

 expertise available to the States to help them do a 

 better job of planning their transportation sys- 

 tems. Recently it has concentrated more on trans- 

 portation technology, and some of this work is 

 relatively long-range and might be included in the 

 work considered basic in a broad sense, as re- 

 ferred to by the Department in the DOT section of 

 Part 1. 



^^T Federal Funds. Vols. II-XXIV. 



