ORGANIZATION OF SCIENCE 



no provision for assuring a steady flow of young scientists into research. 

 For advanced training we have rehed upon the existing scholarships 

 and fellowships of the universities, which are so meager that most young 

 scientists can devote only a portion of their time to learning, the rest 

 being needed for earning a living; and upon the advanced fellowships 

 supplied by foundations, private philanthropy, and industry. The 

 same considerations of approaching exhaustion of private funds apply 

 to the training of persons as to the provision of research funds. 



The facts that must be faced are, then, that the present means 

 of support of science are running out and, whether we like it or not, 

 changes in the sources and form of support will occur; and that a 

 chief desideratum for scientists will be to keep science under the new 

 conditions as free as possible to develop according to its own inner 

 needs and according to its function in society. 



In the following pages I propose to discuss, first, what the func- 

 tion of science is that entitles it to support; second, what determines 

 the attitudes of scientists toward forms of support; third, what general 

 public policy toward science would represent the best interests of 

 science and scientists; and, fourth, how this policy could be imple- 

 mented in practical ways. 



At the bottom of every consideration of science in its public 

 aspects must lie the question: "What is science for?" When this 

 question is squai'ely and thoughtfully faced, scientists will agree that 

 science exists for man and not for itself alone. As a means of under- 

 standing the material world, it leads toward the improvement and 

 control of the environment in which human society must always 

 operate. Eventually, its results and the methods of thought which it 

 develops accrue to the public good, not merely by increasing the physi- 

 cal well-being of the people through technological applications, but 

 also by extending the domain of reason and by increasing our under- 

 standing and appreciation of nature. In discussing the material means 

 which have to be provided for scientific research, it is often forgotten 

 that the great and lasting changes wrought by science are in men's 

 minds, and that, in the end, science is to be supported for the same 

 reason that education is to be supported. The products of science are 

 primarily increase and diffusion of knowledge and increase in the 

 number of trained minds, and secondarily increase of technical facilities 

 and production of goods. Like other knowledge, scientific under- 



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