98 



way: by such outstanding contributions as those of Bohr and Moseley 

 in atomic structure, Einstein in rehitivity, Curie in radioactivity; the 

 Russians led in theoretical matlieniatics, the Germans in theoretical 

 mechanics, Austria in medicine, Italy in electromagnetics, and so on. 

 The genius of the United States (except for such outstanding excep- 

 tions as Henry and Gibbs), lay in the areas of applied science and 

 technology.^ 



Science had not been a major preoccupation of the Congress. There 

 was a longstanding tendency to regard scientists as a group remote from 

 political affairs whose achievements were sometimes rewarded by the 

 granting of patents, but whose work largel}^ was beyond tlie control 

 and whose motivations were beyond the reach of the legislators. 

 Agricultural sciences were accorded a special status in the Morrill 

 Act of 1863, whicli recognized this mundane field of research as related 

 to the raising of the levels of skills of farmers.* In the field of science 

 proper, congressional interest and government activities were on a 

 modest scale. A small research effort was authorized in the National 

 Bureau of Standards. Small programs were supported in the U.S. 

 Geological Survey, the laboratories at ordnance arsenals, the Naval 

 Research Laboratory, the David Taylor Model Basin, and the Naval 

 Observatory. The quasi-governmental Smithsonian Institution was 

 maintained with the help of Federal funds. Such longstanding institu- 

 tions as the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 

 Connnerce, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, were not 

 recognized as performing really scientific functions and their researches 

 were not ordinarily identified with those of the physical science 

 laboratory. 



During World War II the physical scientists, and to a lesser extent 

 the social scientists, were mobilized to carry on applied research and 

 engineering develo})ment to help solve military problems. The impact 

 of this outpouring of technology was the more notable because the 

 depression period preceding the war (1930-39) had been character- 

 ized by small expenditures for research and a reluctance of private 

 industry to develop and use new technology that involved capital 

 expenditures or laborsaving economies. During the prewar period, 

 many graduate students, unable to find employment in industry, had 

 continued their advanced studies so that when the war broke out there 



3 Dr. Harold Urey, of Columbia University, whose name is associated with the discovery of "heavy 

 water," submitted to the Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization, Oct. 25, 1945, a table of Nobel Prize 

 winners in the United States and Europe as follows: 



United Europe 



States 



Chemistry - 4 37 (11 Germans). 



Physics -- 8 39 (17 Germans). 



Medicine and physiology 6 37(8 Germans). 



Commented Urey: "The relatively small number of Nobel Prizes awarded to U.S. citizens indicates the 

 weakness of this country in pure science and also, by contrast, its great strength in industrial development." 

 (U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs. Hearings on Science Legislation (S. 1297 and related 

 bills.) Hearings before a subcommittee of the * * *. Pursuant to S. Res. 107 (78th Cong.) and S. Res. 146 

 (79th Cong.). Authorizing a Study of the Possibilities of Better Mobilizing the National Resources of the 

 United States. 79th Cong. 1st and 2d sess. Five parts: Pt. 1, Oct. 8, 9, 11, 12, 1945; pt. 2, Oct. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 

 1945; pt. 3, Oct. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 1945; pt. 4, Oct. 29, 30, 31 and Nov. 1, 1945; pt. 5, including statements sub- 

 mitted for the record, Nov. 1, 2, 1945; and pt. 6, Testimony of Science Talent Search Finalists, Mar. 6, 1946. 

 (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office (1945), p. 658.) 



* The unforeseen consequences of the encouragement of scientific agriculture were the steady rise in in- 

 industrial productivity of the United States as manpower left the farm. During the century following this 

 action, farm families declined in proportion to the total population from about two-thirds to about one- 

 twentieth. Throughout most of the period 1920 to the present, this dwindling proportion of farmers produced 

 unmanageable surpluses of farm produce. 



