than ability itself, to intellectual am- 

 bition. We think it very important 

 that every bov and girl shall know 

 that, if he shows that he "has what 

 it takes," the sky is the limit. Even 

 if it be shown subsequently that he 

 has not what it takes to go to the 

 top, he will go further than he would 

 otherwise go if there had been a ceil- 

 ing beyond which he always knew he 

 could not aspire. 



By proceeding from point to point 

 and taking stock on the way, by giv- 

 ing further opportunity to those who 

 show themselves worthy of further 

 opportunity, by giving the most op 

 portunity to those who shaw them- 

 selves continually developing — this is 

 the way we propose. This is the 

 American way: a man works for what 

 he gets. 



2. The Desirable and Necessary 

 Extent of the Proposed Long- 

 Term Plans 



As said in the general preamble to 

 this report, we think that plans for 

 the discovery and development of sci- 

 entific talent should have a limit re- 

 lated to the needs of the Nation as 

 a whole for trained talent in all ac- 

 tivities that are necessary for the 

 national welfare. We think, also as 

 stated, that while we have no fears 

 that too much top ability can be 

 found and developed there is some 

 danger that too many scientists of less 

 than top ability may be trained, there- 

 by debasing the currency of scientific 

 training to the point where scientific 

 careers may not look attracti\'e either 

 to the best or to the second best. 



How to calculate the Nation's fu- 

 ture needs for scientists, or to docu- 

 ment fullv a judgment upon the 

 question, we confess we do not know. 

 But we have some evidence to sup- 

 port what we, at any rate, regard as 



informed conclusions. This evidence 

 is set forth in Appendix B attached 

 hereto. In summary it shows the fol- 

 lowing facts germane to this report: 



In the year 1941 there were con- 

 ferred 53,534 undergraduate degrees 

 in natural science and in technology. 



In the last 6 years before the war, 

 the average annual number of Ph.D. 

 degrees conferred in natural science 

 and technological fields was 1,649. 



For some years to come, as pointed 

 out elsewhere in this report, these 

 numbers must be increased in an at- 

 tempt to make up for the accumu- 

 lated deficits in trained scientific and 

 technological personnel caused by 

 wartime interruptions to basic educa- 

 tion and specialized training. 



We have carefully studied data and 

 indications concerning the Nation's 

 future needs for scientists and tech- 

 nologists as a basis for determining 

 the necessary and desirable extent of 

 plans for discovering and developing 

 scientific talent. We have concluded 

 that the best that can be done is to 

 make a practical, executive judgment 

 after consideration of the material; 

 and such a judgment leads us to pro- 

 pose that 6,000 science students an- 

 nually be selected for assistance in 

 obtaining the bachelor's degree. This 

 number we judge to be not too large 

 from any point of view or too small 

 to be effective. 



Similarly, making an executive 

 judgment upon numbers of students 

 proposed to be assisted annually to 

 obtain doctoral degrees in science, we 

 arrive at the figure 250, plus 50 for 

 medical research doctorates unless 

 your Committee upon the second 

 question in President Roosevelt's let- 

 ter makes a separate recommendation 

 on fellowships in that field, which 

 we understand is not their present in- 

 tention. It is not intended that the 



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