more industrial, more urban, and more in- 

 tegrated, the rise of graduate universities, 

 research-oriented government bureaus, in- 

 dustrial research laboratories, and nonprofit 

 independent research institutes stimulated and 

 served American society. 



Universities 



Undergraduate teaching in science had been a 

 part of American college curricula since the 

 Colonial period, but not until the establishment 

 of West Point in 1802 was practical science 

 (other than botany for doctors) taught to people 

 who would presumably use it. In 1824 the 

 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute became the 

 world's first private engineering college. And in 

 1847 Eben Norton Horsford returned from work 

 at Liebig's university laboratory in Giessen, 

 Germany to set up what became the Lawrence 

 Scientific School at Harvard. Yale, at about the 

 same time, established its School of Applied 

 Chemistry, which from the beginning combined 

 commercial chemical analysis with teaching. In 

 1862 the Morrill Act provided each State with a 

 grant of land to establish agricultural and 

 mechanical colleges, and during the post-Civil 

 War period the number of private polytechnic 

 institutes grew rapidly. With the establishment 

 of the Johns Hopkins University in 1876, the 

 full-blown German tradition of pure scientific 

 research and graduate seminars was firmly set 

 in this country, and by World War I most 

 American universities counted research and 

 public service (often defined as the application 

 of research) along with teaching as their special 

 duties. Until the advent of large Federal funds 

 during and after World War II, the pattern of 

 graduate education in science established by 

 Johns Hopkins remained dominant. 



Government 



Government agencies, some dating back to 

 the early years of the Republic, were by 1902 

 spending an estimated $11 million for scientific 

 research including what are now called social 



sciences. 1 New national needs led to new 

 agencies and bureaus. By 1900 the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture could be looked to for 

 examples of problem-oriented basic research in 

 a government agency. The organic act es- 

 tablishing the new Bureau of Standards in 1901 , 

 giving it the responsibility for "the solution of 

 problems which arise in connection with 

 standards," was broad enough in theory to 

 permit both basic and applied research 

 necessary for its mission. The establishment of 

 agencies of this kind tended to legitimize a role 

 for the Federal Government as patron of 

 science. Because they were dependent upon 

 public money, there was strong reason to show 

 that the science they supported was conducive 

 to the public good. In many cases programs 

 served an area of science closely related to 

 significant economic forces in the private 

 sector, and science administrators had to find a 

 balance point between those interests which 

 wanted only that research which would be of 

 immediate use to their industry, and those 

 which wanted only the most basic work to be 

 done so that all firms would have an equal 

 likelihood of finding practical application for 

 the research. 



Industry 



Industrial research too was increasing during 

 the first decades of the present century. From 

 small beginnings in private analytical 

 laboratories, in the workshops of inventors, and 

 in the troubleshooting of individualconsultants 

 to particular firms, this sector grew rapidly. 

 Such laboratories numbered about 375 on the 

 eve of World War I, and 1,600 in 1931.- In 

 justifying their costs to shareholders, the 



1 A sourer lor information on government science is A. 

 Hunter Dupree. Science in the Federal Government: A 

 History of Policies and Activities to 1940 (Cambridge, 

 1957). For figure cited see p. 295. 



- A survey of the rise of industrial research is Howard R. 

 Bartlett. "The Development of Industrial Research in the 

 United States," Research— A National Resource. II— Indus- 

 trial Research. Report of the National Research Council to 



RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES 



