SCIEN< 1 . R! SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 1963-69 1 35 



Government funds made available for research purposes in colleges and universi- 

 ties are not at all analogous to purchase orders which the Government may issue for 

 supplies and equipment. These contracts and grants are not lor the purchase of services 

 or commodities, but for the stimulation of intellectual endeavor in a chosen scientific 

 held. 



Roger Revelle, director, Scnpps Institution of Oceanography, Univer- 

 sity of California, bubbled over with enthusiasm as he reported : 



During the past 15 years, Federal policy in support of basic research has been to 

 assist all first-rate scientists to do the research they wanted to do, particularly when 

 this research also involved the teaching of graduate students. This emphasis on 

 excellence and on freedom has produced remarkable results. It is not an exaggeration 

 to sav that the flowering of American science since the war is as spectacular an out- 

 burst of human creativity, though on a far larger scale, as the outpouring of art and 

 literature in Florence during the days of Lorenzo the Magnificent. 



Perhaps the most interesting advice came in this form from Dr. Harold 

 C. Urey, professor of chemistry, University of California: 



Outsiders should not try to plan the work, or say what is important. Do you 

 really think that any outside group, congressional committee or otherwise, in 1931, 

 could have told a rather unknown scientist by the name of Harold C. Urey that it was 

 important to work on the discovery of heavy hydrogen? * * * I think it is entirely 

 probable that if outsiders had attempted to direct my research at that time that they 

 would have advised that the work be discontinued as unnecessary. 



Many other thoughtful and stimulating replies were received, 

 which were summarized in the committee's first report, "Government 

 and Science — A Statement of Purpose." 



Dr. Frederick Seitz, President of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 testified on October 15, 1963 that "if your committee were to ask us 

 to make a study, we would regard the report which emerges as your 

 propertv to be used as you desire." Accordingly, a contractual agree- 

 ment was made with the Academy which resulted in several excellent 

 studies, the first of which was "Basic Research and National Goals." 



RESEARCH MANAGEMENT ADVISORY PANEL 



During its first 6 weeks, thesubcommitteealso assembled a Research 

 Management Advisory Panel. The central purpose of the panel was to 

 point the way to improve research management and policy control of 

 some of the large and costly applied science research programs. The 

 panel was initially composed of the following members : 



James B. Fisk, president of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. 

 James M. Gavin, chairman of the board, Arthur D. Little, Inc. 

 Samuel Lenher, vice president, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. 

 Wilfred J. McNeil, president, Tax Foundation, Inc. 



