s< 11 \< I RIM \R< II AND TK HNOLOGV, 1970-79 575 



law enforcement officials, prosecutors, fire services, political leaders, 

 bankers, and insurance representatives. 



When Brown and Hollenbeck brought the fire authorization bill 

 to the House floor on June 4, 1979, under suspension of the rules, no 

 voice of opposition was raised and the bill was adopted without a 

 rollcall. The House accepted a similar Senate bill on November 8, 1979. 



STANDARD REFERENCE DATA SYSTEM 



"The public is used to thinking of science as dramatic discoveries 

 of new quasars or rocketships to the Moon or breakthroughs in genetic 

 engineering, but does not often hear of the work performed by the 

 Office of Standard Reference Data," Congressman Hollenbeck remarked 

 at the opening of the SRD hearings on February 9, 1978. Congressman 

 Flippo, chairing the hearings, pointed out that without these basic 

 and authoritative data, the individual scientist or engineer would 

 have to conduct a tedious search through all the published literature 

 and on top of that analyze it all before starting to work. 



The basic legislation establishing this unsung but necessary pro- 

 gram was passed in 1968, thanks to the committee's leadership (see 

 pages 149-150). 



On August 3, 1971, the subcommittee met to consider updating the 

 1968 legislation. Because the extension of the authorization to the 

 Bureau of Standards for the standard reference data system was com- 

 bined in 1971 with the fire research bill, perhaps it was natural 

 that the committee members found that fire had more political sex 

 appeal. Attention of committee members wandered as Dr. Lewis M. 

 Branscomb, NBS Director, presented his somewhat abstruse testimony. 

 At one point, Dr. Branscomb looked up at the subcommittee members 

 and focused their attention by commencing: 



I would not want to startle any of the members of this distinguished com- 

 mittee — 



He finished the sentence with better attention — 



who might still believe in the infallibility of science, but I must confess that when 

 scientists, or engineers too, make a measurement in the laboratory, they do not 

 always get the right answer. More specifically, since no measurement is per- 

 fect, they do not always get as accurate an answer as they claim to have, sometimes 

 by a large measure. * * * If you can find a reliable value in a handbook, you don't 

 have to go into the laboratory and measure it yourself or trust your luck in a value 

 found by a laborious search through the literature. 



PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 



Dr. Branscomb pointed out a number of practical applications of 

 the standard reference data system. He stated that a careful analysis 

 of the physical properties of oxygen had helped pinpoint the cause of 



