1032 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



the Senate, the committee had just completed a symposium which, 

 instead of glorifying the past, was devoted to "Next Steps for Man- 

 kind -the Future in Space." Preparations were being made to enact 

 legislation for space industrialization and the development of solar 

 power from satellites. The way was being paved for the first Space 

 Shuttle flight. The applications of space technology for the elderlv 

 and handicapped were being examined. 



A new burst of activity in the two energy subcommittees was 

 concentrated on both old and new sources of energy — solar, geo- 

 thermal, conservation, biomass, synthetic fuels, and overcoming the 

 problems of low level ionizing and nonionizing radiation and nuclear 

 waste disposal while pointing toward the future uses of nuclear power, 

 including the exciting possibilities of nuclear fusion. The committee 

 was deeply involved in planning for the United Nations Conference 

 on Science and Technology, as well as focusing on legislation to stim- 

 ulate innovation in science and technology, the role of Federal labora- 

 tories in transferring technology to State and local governments, 

 nutrition, decisionmaking in such areas as approving new drugs, and 

 the complex area of risk/benefit analysis and R. & D. policy. 



There was no slowdown in the committee's efforts to stress the 

 development of a fuel-efficient and safer automobile, and to push 

 forward the frontiers of research in aeronautics and aviation. The 

 oceans, the climate, the atmosphere, and the total environment oc- 

 cupied the continued attention of the committee as it pointed its 

 sights toward the future. 



Even as this is written, the winds of change are still blowing. In 

 the 20 years since 1959, the committee had vastly broadened its hori- 

 zons. The early concentration on space now constituted only one 

 portion of the committee's mission which in 1979 encompassed energy, 

 transportation, natural resources and the environment, and the use of 

 science and technology toward the solution of present and future 

 problems faced by human beings on Earth. The committee's long string 

 of legislative and other achievements affecting public policy, detailed 

 in these chapters, should not obscure the primary focus on the future 

 of mankind. This was the central concern of the committee as it 

 provided the leadership in humanity's inexorable progress toward the 

 endless frontier. 



