Part Two 



Plans for the Near Future 



The preceding sections of this re- 

 port propose plans for the disco\'ery 

 and development of scientific talent 

 in American youth as a long-term 

 proposition. There is, however, an 

 immediate and pressing problem 

 which is a result of the war. 



1 . Deficits of Scientific and Tech- 

 nological Personnel Resulting 

 from War and Selective Service 

 Policies 



The training of men in the fields 

 of science and technology during the 

 war has almost completely stopped. 

 With the exception of some 2,400 

 men on the reserved list who have 

 been taken from their studies for 

 civilian war research, all physically 

 fit graduate students have been taken 

 into the armed forces. College stu- 

 dents majoring in the sciences have 

 also been taken into the armed forces. 

 Those ready for college training in 



the sciences have not been permitted 

 to enter. Because of these curtail- 

 ments, it will require at least 6 years 

 after the war ends before scientists 

 trained for research will emerge from 

 the graduate schools in any signifi- 

 cant quantity. Consequently there is 

 an accumulating deficit in the num- 

 ber of trained research scientists. 

 That deficit will continue for a num- 

 ber of years. 



The deficits in science and tech- 

 nology students who, but for the war, 

 would have been granted bachelor's 

 degrees in these fields are probably 

 already about 150,000. 



The deficits, in science and tech- 

 nology, of doctoral degrees — that is, 

 of young scholars trained to the point 

 where they are capable of carrying 

 on original work — have been calcu- 

 lated by the American Institute of 

 Physics, as follows: 



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