74 



Scientific Instrumentation 



The state of scientific instrumentation at the nation's research 

 laboratories became a major science policy issue in the decade fol- 

 lowing 1975. The tightening of the Federal research budget during 

 the preceding ten years, along with the depressed economy and 

 high rate of inflation in the 1970s, had led scientists and research 

 administrators alike to defer the purchase and maintenance of sci- 

 entific equipment. 1 1 This was compounded by the fact that the cost 

 of research equipment rose faster during the 1970s than the rate of 

 inflation. The problem was most pronounced within the academic 

 research sector, where the extended deficiencies in both Govern- 

 ment and private expenditures for scientific apparatus was leading 

 to a significant decline in "the quality of research instrumenta- 

 tion." 12 



The National Science Foundation responded to this concern over 

 university research by contracting with the American Association 

 of Universities (AAU) to conduct a comprehensive examination of 

 research undertaken within the academy. Published in 1977 under 

 the title The State of Academic Science: The Universities in the Na- 

 tion's Research Effort, the report found academic science to be in 

 substantial trouble. 13 "When federal research support grew rapidly 

 from the late 1950s until the mid-1960s," it was explained, "science 

 departments built a base of equipment that helped carry forward 

 the research effort. However, the equipment acquired in that 

 period has now begun to age and wear out in many depart- 

 ments." 14 The report continued: 



The drop in support for equipment may be viewed as a 

 natural outcome of recent trends. When funds are tight, 

 agency officials are tempted to allocate money to support 

 essential personnel costs and to postpone acquisition of 

 new equipment. Investigators, too, have been reluctantly 

 willing to postpone replacement or to neglect adequate 

 maintenance. However understandable the short-run adap- 

 tation to austerity, the long-range consequences of a dete- 

 riorating equipment base for American science are seri- 

 ous. 15 



The National Academy of Sciences, in its Five- Year Outlook pub- 

 lished in 1979, concurred with the AAU report on the health of 

 academic science. In providing the Executive Branch and the Con- 

 gress with an assessment of the U.S. research effort, the Academy 

 reported that: 



The federal government's decision to reduce allocations 

 for capital investment and equipment was a rational re- 

 sponse to budgetary problems. However, the period of low 

 investment was so protracted that many research installa- 



1 > See National Science Foundation and National Academy of Sciences, Survey of Research 

 Equipment Needs in Ten Academic Disciplines (Washington: GPO, 1972); and National Science 

 Board, Science Indicators, 1972 (Washington: GPO, 1973), p. 72. 



12 National Science Board, Science Indicators, 1974 (Washington: GPO, 1975), p. 45. 



13 See Bruce L. R. Smith and Joseph J. Karlesky, The State of Academic Science: The Univer- 

 sities in the Nation 's Research Effort (New York: Change Magazine Press, 1977). 



14 Ibid., p. 168. 



15 Ibid., p. 169. 



