Graduate School 121 



the various crafts that are an essential element in scien- 

 tific work. Indeed, as the senior scientists become more and 

 more involved with the overall direction of the laboratory 

 program, with supervising graduate students, and with 

 serving on the innumerable committees which now form 

 such a prominent feature of the scientific world, it is fre- 

 quently the junior staff members and the technicians who 

 command the greatest skill in the essential observational 

 phase of the scientific process. This fact not only gains the 

 respect of their colleagues but places the technician in the 

 strategic spot for noticing those chance occurrences which 

 often lead to the most novel and challenging discoveries. 



Even if they don't have the flair for original observation, 

 many technicians derive a major satisfaction from work- 

 ing with a team of unusually interesting people in an 

 atmosphere somewhat less formal and regimented than 

 is commonly found in commerce and industry. All these 

 considerations make a scientific job well worth looking 

 into, even if one feels that he lacks the intellectual capacity 

 or ambition or financial backing to reach full-fledged pro- 

 fessional status. Currently many girls find a technician's 

 job a satisfactory compromise between their wish for some 

 sort of a career and the equally important drive to become 

 a competent wife and mother. 



Finally, the position of technician provides a good tran- 

 sition stage for those who for one reason or another are 

 not quite sure that they want to go on to full-fledged status. 

 Often a year or two in a laboratory will uncover hitherto 

 unexpected abihties and interests. With the encouragement 

 and sponsorship of a perceptive boss, the temporary tech- 

 nician may be stimulated to take the plunge into graduate 

 school. In this connection it is well to remember the prac- 

 tical point that technicians are reasonably well paid and, 

 if they have no outside obhgations, can often save enough 



