Part Five 



A PROBLEM OF SCIENTIFIC 

 RECONVERSION 



Effects of Mobilization of Science for War 



We have been living on our fat. For more than 5 years many of our 

 scientists have been fighting the w^ar in the laboratories, in the factories and 

 shops, and at the front. We have been directing the energies of our scientists 

 to the development of weapons and materials and methods on a large number 

 of relatively narrow projects initiated and controlled by the Office of Scientific 

 Research and Development and other Government agencies. Like troops, 

 the scientists have been mobilized and thrown into action to serv^e their 

 country in time of emergency. But thev have been diverted to a greater extend 

 than is generally appreciated from the search for answers to the funda- 

 mental problems — from the search on which human welfare and progress 

 depends. This is not a complaint — it is a fact. The mobilization of science 

 behind the lines is aiding the fighting men at the front to win the war and 

 to shorten it; and it has resulted incidentally in the accumulation of a vast 

 amount of experience and knowledge of the application of science to par- 

 ticular problems, much of which can be put to use when the war is over. 

 Fortunately, this country had the scientists — and the time — to make this 

 contribution and thus to advance the date of victory. 



Security Restrictions Shotild be Lifted Promptly 



Much of the information and experience acquired during the war is 

 confined to the agencies that gathered it. Except to the extent that military 

 security dictates otherwise, such knowledge should be spread upon the record 

 for the benefit of the general public. 



Thanks to the wise provision of the Secretary of War and the Secretary 

 of the Navy, most of the results of wartime medical research have been 

 published. Sc\'eral hundred articles have appeared in the professional jour- 

 nals; many are in process of publication. The material still subject to security 

 classification should be released as soon as possible. 



It is my view that most of the remainder of the classified scientific material 

 should be released as soon as there is ground for belief that the enemy will 

 not be able to turn it against us in this war. Most of the information needed 

 by industry and in education can be released without disclosing its embodi- 



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