ALAN T. WATERMAN 



under the title, "Strengthening American Science," under- 

 scores the role of private initiative in the support of basic 

 research. The report comments: 



There is also a vital and unique role for private foundations to 

 play in supporting imaginative and audacious research that indus- 

 try or Government may not always support. Relatively modest 

 sums, wisely expended, can still underwrite and stimulate creative 

 scientific work of the first order. Private foundations can also 

 stimulate the growth of more first-rate scientific institutions, and 

 cultivate in them the intellectual climate indispensable to high 

 scholarship. 



One cannot leave this subject without paying full tribute 

 to the outstanding contributions to basic as well as applied 

 research made by the research laboratories of a number of 

 technical industries and of the government, and to the increas- 

 ing amount of good work done by a variety of special inde- 

 pendent research and development groups. 



This cursory review of the various organizational entities 

 by which basic research is carried on in the United States will 

 serve to illustrate the extent to which we enjoy diversity in this 

 country in our approach to the research effort. This is good. 

 After all, research in science is a human activity carried on by 

 men. Therefore, it will necessarily have all the complexities 

 and subtleties that human beings have. Thus there is not, and 

 never can be, any standard manner of conducting research. 

 The method may be systematic, thorough, painstaking; or it 

 may be erratic, inspirational, and highly individual. This truth 

 is one of the great strengths of science. 



The Federal Government 



I turn now to my final topic, which is a quick glance at 

 the role of the federal government in relation to the research 

 effort. During the last several decades we have witnessed a 



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