24 FREDM. UBER 



The advisability of inaugurating co-operative research programs 

 should at times be given serious consideration. There are occasions 

 when research problems, or perhaps only limited phases of an investi- 

 gation, can be studied to great advantage at another institution with 

 equipment already in operation. It is regrettable that this is not done 

 more frequently and that institutional administrations do not have 

 provisions that would readily facilitate co-operative research arrange- 

 ments. Postdoctoral fellowships have done much to realize this ob- 

 jective for a selected group. 



The various marine biological laboratories have been successful in 

 providing research facilities that have been widely used for investiga- 

 tions during the summer months, the expenses often being defrayed in 

 part by the worker's home institution. Not only specialized equip- 

 ment, perhaps unavailable to the investigator at home, but also 

 specialized biological materials that can be studied to advantage only 

 at a marine location, combine to make this a very satisfactory arrange- 

 ment. 



The current trend toward more expensive and elaborate apparatus 

 is making it correspondingly more difficult for scientists in some in- 

 stitutions to explore the research fields of their greatest interest. In 

 some cases, financial arrangements could be made with the service 

 laboratories of a neighboring university or other scientific institution 

 in order to overcome this handicap. With modern communication 

 facilities it should be readily possible, for example, to have specimens 

 for electron microscope obserA'-ation prepared at one institution and 

 the photographs taken at another. The same can certainly be said for 

 analyses of stable isotope samples by the mass spectrometer. In fact, 

 many types of analyses might well be made by commercial labora- 

 tories at a financial saving to the sponsoring research institution, when 

 all the hidden charges are considered. 



2. Time and Personnel 



Just as the time factor may have an important bearing on the out- 

 line of an experimental program from the standpoint of the equipment 

 available for expediting research, so it likewise has an influence rela- 

 tive to the question of personnel. Some research problems can be met 

 efficiently only by relatively large research groups. Individuals 

 should hesitate to undertake problems by themselves where it is clear 

 that progress can be at best extremely slow, especially if the risk is 

 great that the same problems may be concluded first by a group that is 



