11 



used primarily to support the manufacturing process, rather than 

 to generate new knowledge. 



Private Foundations and the Support of Science 



Private foundations constituted the fourth major source of re- 

 search funding in the United States. The Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington and the Rockefeller Foundation were the two most 

 prominent and well-endowed private foundations supporting sci- 

 ence early in the twentieth century. They were joined by another 

 major funder in the mid-1920s, the John Simon Guggenheim Foun- 

 dation. These foundations used both institutional and individual 

 grants in their support of science — methods that were later adopt- 

 ed by the Federal Government. The fellowships awarded by the 

 foundations during the 1920s allowed hundreds of scientists to 

 pursue their research projects unencumbered by the routines of un- 

 dergraduate teaching and academic administration, for periods 

 ranging from one to four years. Private foundations also supported 

 research through the provision of complex and expensive scientific 

 equipment such as telescopes and, later in the 1930s, cyclotrons. 22 



Science Policy During the 1920's 



The Government's research policy during the decade 1919-1929 

 reflected the nation's overall transition to a peacetime economy as 

 well as a retreat from the interventionist policies of the Progres- 

 sive Era. After its brief experiment with central scientific organiza- 

 tions during World War I, the Federal Government resumed its 

 support of mission-oriented research through the separate pro- 

 grams of its many agencies and departments. The National Re- 

 search Council, through the financial support of the Rockefeller 

 Foundation, began offering postdoctoral fellowships in physics and 

 chemistry in order to stimulate basic research in the United States. 

 The NRC also attempted to coordinate the nation's scientific soci- 

 eties, and sought to stimulate interaction among scientific leaders 

 from universities, Government, industry, and foundations. But the 

 NRC's formal link with the Government weakened during the 

 course of the 1920's, thus making it neither an effective advisor to 

 the Federal Government nor a central organization capable of co- 

 ordinating the science programs of the various Government bu- 

 reaus. 23 



Despite the demobilization that took place after World War I, the 

 military continued its scientific research programs throughout the 



22 See George W. Corner, A History of the Rockefeller Institute, 1901-1953: Origins and 

 Growth (New York: Rockefeller Institute Press, 1964); Howard S. Miller, "Science and Private 

 Agencies," in Van Tassel and Hall, Science and Society in the United States, pp. 191-221; 

 Nathan Reingold, "National Science Policy in a Private Foundation: The Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington,' in Oleson and Voss, The Organization of Knowledge in Modern America, pp. 313- 

 341; Stanley Coben, "American Foundations as Patrons of Science: The Commitment to Individ- 

 ual Research," in Reingold, The Sciences in the American Context, pp. 229-247; and Robert E. 

 Kohler, "Science and Philanthropy: Wickliffe Rose and the International Education Board," Mi- 

 nerva, 23 (Spring 1985), 75-95. 



23 For a discussion of science in the United States during the 1920s, see Dupree, Science in the 

 Federal Government, pp. 326-343; Ronald C. Tobey, The American Ideology of National Science 

 1919-1930 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971); and Daniel J. Kevles, The Physi- 

 cists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 

 1978), pp. 155-221. v 



