C. A. ELVEHJEM 



Early Research 



I think it is important to point out, at the start, that 

 research did not originate in our universities. The university 

 we know today developed largely in France and Italy at the 

 beginning of the second half of the Middle Ages. Oxford was 

 established in 1264, Prague in 1348, and Vienna in 1365. 

 These universities gave little consideration to research. 



In the seventeenth century there was a significant burst 

 of scientific activity, but much of the experimentation was 

 carried out in the homes of the experimenters rather than in 

 university laboratories. Newton's optical researches were made 

 in his home. Robert Boyle tested his laws of elasticity of gases 

 in tubes along the stairway of his house. 



In America during the colonial period, scientific work was 

 carried out sporadically, but for the most part, outside the 

 universities. Franklin and Jefferson, for example, were not 

 attached to academic institutions. 



But as the modern American university developed, re- 

 search became an integral function. During the past few years, 

 several state institutions have celebrated the seventy-fifth anni- 

 versary of their agricultural experiment stations. Thus, we can 

 trace, for at least three quarters of a century, formalized and 

 recognized research, at least in the colleges of agriculture, in 

 a number of state institutions. It could be argued that these 

 programs were not, in the beginning, much concerned with 

 basic research; in fact, they were called experimental stations. 

 Undoubtedlv much testing and pot boiling was carried out 

 without the development of new basic ideas. 



Evidence that the significance of basic research in state 

 universities was not widely recognized, even at the beginning 

 of this century, is revealed in the strength of the plea for its 

 recognition by Thomas E. Chamberlin at the Jubilee Celebra- 

 tion of The University of Wisconsin in 1904. 



88 



