BASIC RESEARCH AND THE LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE 



tutions from which they come. There are, o£ course, a tew 

 exceptions on either side. 



Women in coeducational colleges and women's colleges 

 are not included in these observations. Since such a small 

 percentage (probably not more than 2 per cent) of Ph.D.'s in 

 science are women, the production of women bachelors who 

 go on to the doctorate would hardly give a fair appraisal of the 

 status of research in the institutions. A few women's colleges 

 are far superior in the production of promising scholars. The 

 lively interest in research in three of them (Bryn Mawr, Mt. 

 Holyoke, and Wellesley) is evidenced by the fact that they 

 shelter chapters of Sigma Xi. 



Publication 582 compiled by the Office of Scientific Per- 

 sonnel, National Academy of Sciences-Research Council, gives 

 the number and origins of doctorates in all fields and the 

 baccalaureate origins of doctorates for the twenty-one years 

 from 1936 through 1956. 



The list includes some 1 1 66 institutions, of which 180 

 granted from one to 7195 doctorates during this twenty-one 

 year period. Yet only some 100 really contributed much; in 

 fact, three-fourths of the total number of doctorates were 

 granted by thirty leading institutions. 



The list further shows that ninety-five institutions (9.1 

 per cent of the total list) have produced 74 per cent of the 

 bachelors who later achieved doctorates. 



Of some 650 men's and coeducational colleges thirty have 

 been highly productive. Yet, as Dr. Henry Lewis points out, 

 when the total number of doctorates is considered, it is found 

 that three out of four Ph.D.'s had their bachelor degrees in 

 universities. 



Publication 582 reveals the very modest record of most 

 schools and the brilliance of a few. 



I believe Origins of American Scientists by Knapp and 

 Goodrich, published in 1952, has sometimes been mistakenly 



77 



