PREFACE 



Science is important: there can be no doubt that the mod- 

 ern world recognizes this fact. Even those who deprecate its 

 possible consequences are reluctant to be without its resources. 



Science deserves support: everyone agrees to this also, es- 

 pecially if each is permitted to give his own definition of science 

 and how it is to be supported. 



But what is important about science; what science really 

 is; what scientific activities are "practical" and what visionary 

 and presumably lacking in significance; what kind and amount 

 of support society ought to furnish to scientists; what balance 

 there should be between the support of basic science — the un- 

 trammeled search for new knowledge for its own sake — and of 

 applied science — the search for and the use of knowledge spe- 

 cifically needed for recognized practical objectives; these are 

 puzzling and unanswered questions. 



Some five years ago General Lucius Clay, a Trustee of 

 the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, suggested to that philanthropic 

 organization that the physical sciences, particularly the basic 

 fields of chemistry, mathematics, and physics, could profitably 

 use more financial assistance based not upon specific "project" 

 proposals, but based upon the demonstrated capacity of the re- 

 cipient scientists, young persons of intelligence and character, 

 to carry out creative and significant research in general fields 

 of their own choosing. 



The resulting program, which is directed by Dr. Richard 

 T. Arnold, has now reached a level of approximately one mil- 



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