950 



that U.S. scientists originate most of these initiatives. Scientists of 

 other countries consequently are said to resent this American domina- 

 tion of new initiatives. 



Awards for attendance at specific meetings of each of the unions 

 adhering to the International Council of Scientific Unions, (ICSU), 

 are typically funded by separate divisions of NSF. Mr. Rowan's 

 office maintains some centralized reporting on these activities. (See 

 Tables 14 and 15.) Each chairman of a delegation is required to 

 report such details of the meeting as attendance, comments (scientific 

 and diplomatic), activities of the U.S. delegation, and consideration 

 of resolutions. The Academy does not give delegates pr«departure 

 briefings on scientific or diplomatic positions. However, the State 

 Department is interested in deliberations at these meetings and 

 since 1950 has supported the travel of its own delegates to them.^^^ 



During 1967 and 1968, the Academy and members of the ICSU 

 decided that the quality of meetings was suffering because organizing 

 committees relied on local scientists for their arrangements. The 

 Academy subsequently organized an ad hoc group to prepare two re- 

 ports on their problems and status. The first report, published in 

 1968, offered recommendations for improving the quality and organi- 

 zation of international scientific meetings: 



1. Participation of the international sponsor in the planning of meetings. 



2. Screening of the papers to be presented at meetings. 



3. Recognition of the importance of informal contacts at meetings in the allot- 

 ment of time and space for informal discussion. 



4. Close attention to physical facilities and arrangements. 



o. Establishment by international unions of committees of past organizers who 

 can advise current national organizing committees. 



6. Adequate secretariats for organizing committees of large meetings and, in 

 the case of the largest meetings, the services of a professional congress organizer, 

 if one with proper qualifications is available. 



7. Concentration of sessions of large meetings in one area where all are easily 

 accessible to each other. 



8. More selective sponsorship of meetings by international organizations. 



9. Avoidance of unnecessary duplication by means of better communications 

 about prospective meetings through the regular exchange of information by 

 scientific organizations in the same general field and through better use of period- 

 ically published lists of forthcoming meetings. 



10. Financial assistance to the organizers of meetings, either through loans 

 from a revolving fund of the sponsoring body or through the collection of a small 

 surcharge on registration fees at the previous meeting in the series. 



11. Publication of papers given at a meeting in the form of proceedings only 

 in answer to a real need and because of clear advantage over publication in 

 other forms. 



12. Encouragement of small meetings in developing countries on subjects of 

 special interest to the particular regions in question. 



13. [Attention to adequacy or excessiveness of American participation in inter- 

 national scientific meetings.] 



14. [Encouragement of the holding of more international scientific meetings in 

 the United States.] 253 



Apparently the quality of these meetings has improved considerably 

 following the Academy's adoption of these practices. 



"-' Ibid. 



-53 "Report of the Committee on the Quality and Organization of Internationa) Scirntific Meetings." 

 Office of the Foreign Secretary, National. Academy of Science, June 1968 (the Noyes Report), pp. 8-9. 



