practical benefits were placed foremost: in- 

 dustrial research, costing a relatively small 

 amount, would yield new and improved in- 

 dustrial products and processes, and resultant 

 profits which would far exceed the initial cost of 

 the research. 



Whether the industrial system provided a 

 favorable setting for basic research or whether 

 it should have its principal domicile in univer- 

 sities were issues vigorously discussed in the 

 early years of this century. Among industrial 

 researchers, J. J. Carty of the American Tele- 

 phone and Telegraph Company thought the 

 universities the better place. Distinguishing 

 between "pure" and "applied" research on the 

 basis of motive (to discover truth in the first 

 instance and to solve problems in the second), 

 Carty maintained that "the contributions of 

 pure science as a whole become of incalculable 

 value to all the industries." 



Since no single company could be expected to 

 support work which would benefit its com- 

 petitors equally with itself, Carty argued, "the 

 natural home of pure science and of pure 

 scientific research is to be found in the universi- 

 ty, from which it cannot pass." The problem of 

 financing was, in his mind, to be solved by 

 funds from "those generous and public-spirited 

 men and women who desire to dispose of their 

 wealth in a manner well calculated to advance 

 the welfare of mankind, and it should come from 

 the industries themselves, which owe such a 

 heavy debt to science." 3 



A different approach was taken by Arthur D. 

 Little, in his 1913 presidential address before 

 the American Chemical Society. He declared 

 that because real problems could be as basic, 

 difficult, and interesting as those of pure 

 chemistry, "a constantly rising proportion of 

 our best research is carried on in the 



laboratories of our great industrial cor- 

 porations." 4 A significant contribution to the 

 discussion was eventually provided by Nobel 

 awards showing just how fundamental the 

 research in industry could be — to Irving 

 Langmuir of General Electric in 1932 for 

 chemistry, 5 and to Clinton J. Davissonofthe Bell 

 Telephone Company in 1937 (with G. P. 

 Thompson, Great Britain] for physics. fi This 

 work evidenced a link between basic research 

 and the needs of industrial enterprises. 



Foundations 



In the opening decades of the twentieth 

 century those "generous and public-spirited 

 men and women" of whom Carty spoke were 

 pioneering in another kind of organization 

 destined to play a valuable role in the support of 

 science — the philanthropic foundation. During 

 the nineteenth century, such wealthy patrons 

 had already established colleges and 

 astronomical observatories. By 1900 there had 

 also been set up 18 foundations, and by 1930 

 there were nearly 300, of which 33 were 

 particularly devoted to the support of scientific 

 research. 



In that year Frederick P. Keppel declared that 

 the "foundation's nearest relative" was, 

 "without any question," the university. Indeed, 

 Keppel's own Carnegie Corporation had once 

 been termed a university without students — 

 perhaps the ultimate dream of those science 

 professionals of the late nineteenth century who 



the National Resources Planning Board (Washington. 

 December 1940] pp. 17-77. 



' |. |. Carty. "The Relation of Pure Science to Industrial 

 Research." Transactions of the American Institute of 

 Electrical Engineers. 35 (1916), 483, 484, 487. 



4 Arthur D. Little, "Industrial Research in America," 

 Science. 38 (Nov. 7. 1913), 648. 



5 The standard history of the General Electric Research 

 Laboratory is Kendall Birr, Pioneering in Industrial 

 Research: The Story of the General Electric Research 

 Laboratory (Washington. 1957). 



8 For a standard history of the Bell Telephone Laboratories 

 see: M. D. Fagen (ed.|. Historyof Engineering and Science in 

 the Bell System, the Early V'ears (1875-1925). Bell 

 Telephone Laboratories. 1975. This is volume I of a 

 contemplated two volume series; or Prescott C. Mahon, 

 Mission Communications. The Slory of Bull Laboratories. 

 IMurray Hill, N.)., 1975). 



RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES 



