116 SCIENTIST 



lish. A growing fraction is, however, coming out in Rus- 

 sian and there is still a great deal of important work that 

 first sees the hght of day in German or one of the Romance 

 languages. Many earUer studies which still have current 

 importance have never appeared in English. These facts 

 alone should be enough to stimulate the future scientist to 

 a facility in at least two other languages. But there are 

 other, perhaps more persuasive, reasons. 



In a future chapter, I shall discuss the role of the 

 scientist as an internationalist. Science is one of the most 

 forceful instruments for bringing people together and for 

 enlarging areas of agreement. Increasingly the American 

 scientist is being brought face to face with his colleagues 

 in other lands. In these personal encounters it is most em- 

 barrassing and in a way discourteous to have to insist on 

 EngHsh as the medium of exchange. The American is also 

 seriously hindered in taking an active part in conferences 

 and seminars in which the participants are more or less 

 assumed to know two or three languages. Even the most 

 versatile linguists among foreign scientists are likely to find 

 it much easier to express new or half-formulated ideas in 

 their mother tongue. The American who cannot follow is 

 thus cut off from the most interesting part of the conver- 

 sation, and his own investigations may faU behind the 

 parade as a result. 



Finally, many American scientists are feeling an in- 

 creasing responsibility for the development of science in 

 the new countries. Many of these developing areas use 

 languages other than Enghsh — French, Portuguese, and 

 Spanish being the most common. The American who does 

 not know at least one of these is virtually barred from 

 participating in one of the most challenging opportunities 

 offered to scientists of the present generation. 



Growing recognition of the need for Americans to ac- 



