ism. Dr. Lewis Thomas, President of the Memorial 

 Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, re- 

 cently discussed the important role basic research 

 has played in past progress and the need for it in 

 combating the new problems: 

 We tend to forget about the basic science that 

 came indispensibly, before the elimination of 

 such a large segment of infectious disease just 

 a few decades back. ... By the late 1940s the 

 field of infectious disease was well established 

 as an applied science. Some of the major infec- 

 tions which plagued us all before then have lit- 

 erally vanished since, and most of the others 

 have come under effective control. ... By the 

 1950s when the major programs of the NIH 

 were being organized, there were no compara- 

 ble insights into the inner mechanisms of these 

 other great diseases of human beings. In con- 

 trast to the infectious diseases, the research on 

 these other problems had to be started at that 

 time virtually from scratch, with nothing at all 

 to compare with the storehouse of banked 

 knowledge available for infectious diseases. 267 

 Two major agencies of HEW report no activi- 

 ties in basic research: the Food and Drug Admin- 

 istration and the Center for Disease Control, in- 

 cluding the National Institute for Occupational 

 Safety and Health. 



National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration 



The roots of the National Aeronautics and 

 Space Administration (NASA) go back to Lang- 

 ley's work in aeronautics at the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. It would be difficult to improve on Du- 

 pree's account of this beginning: 



Because of the proposals of individuals in the 

 government who had become interested in avia- 

 tion and who realized that the lack of funda- 

 mental information was hampering develop- 

 ment. President Taft appointed in 1912 a com- 

 mission to study the need for a research labora- 

 tory .^ Walcott was a member, and the report 

 recommended a laboratory within the Smith- 

 sonian supported by appropriations. When 

 Congress did not act, the Smithsonian on its 

 own initiative resolved to revive Langley's lab- 

 oratory to study 'the problems of aerodromics, 

 particularly those of aero-dynamics, with such 

 research and experimentation as may be neces- 

 sary to increase the safety and effectiveness of 



aerial locomotion for the purposes of com- 

 merce, national defense, and the welfare of 

 man.' The secretary was to secure the 'cooper- 

 ation of governmental and other agencies in the 

 development of aerodromical research under 

 the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. '^"^ 

 As 'a private organization having governmental 

 functions and prerogatives,' the Smithsonian 

 hoped to coordinate the research of the Bureau 

 of Standards, the Weather Bureau, and the War 

 and Navy Departments as well as conduct the 

 Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory, which it 

 envisaged as a building on the Institution's 

 grounds with a flying field in nearby Potomac 

 Park. An advisory committee. . . was organ- 

 ized, consisting of the director of the laborato- 

 ry, members designated by the secretaries of 

 the Navy, War, Agriculture, and Commerce, 

 and others appointed by the secretary of the 

 Smithsonian who 'may be acquainted with the 

 needs of aeronautics. -^ 268 



The Comptroller ruled that the arrangement was 

 illegal without the approval of Congress; approval 

 was then sought by Secretary Walcott and Regent 

 Alexander Graham Bell. The United States, 

 where the first successful airplane was developed, 

 was "the only first-class nation (without) an advi- 

 sory committee for aeronautics and suitable re- 

 search laboratories placed under its direction. "26'* 

 At the outbreak of World War I, the United 

 States had 23 airplanes, while France had (about) 

 1.400, Germany 1,000, Russia 800, and Great Brit- 

 ain 400. Acting Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. 

 Roosevelt approved of establishing an advisory 

 committee, and Walcott succeeded in getting 

 provisions for it included in the naval appropria- 

 tion bill. 



National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 



This action was too late for World War I; con- 

 sequently no aircraft of U.S. design reached 

 combat status. 270 However the National Advisory 

 Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was firmly 

 established. It was composed of seven Govern- 

 ment members and five public members who 

 served without pay; its purpose was stated as fol- 

 lows: 

 To supervise and direct the scientific study of 

 the problems of flight, with a view to their 



^*'Dr. Lewis Thomas, speaking at a 1977 symposium cele- 

 brating the 30th birthday of the Office of Naval Research. 



-'*Dupree, pp. 285-286; his references are 64: unpublished 

 study on NACA by Nathan Reingold, prepared for NSF; 65 

 and Mi: Smilhsonutn Annual Report. 1913. pp. 7, 8, 1 17-119. 



-''''Dupree. p. 286, quoting from Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, "Memorial on the Need of a National 

 Advisory Committee for Aeronautics iii the United States," 

 February I, 1915, 63rd Cong.. 3rd Sess., H.R. Doc. 1549, p. 2. 



""Hirsch, R. and J. J. Trento, The National Aeronautics 

 and Space Administration (Praeger: New York, 1973), p. 4. 

 Hereinafter referred to as Hirsch. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 353 



