C. A. ELVEHJEM 



men, admirals, and bankers talk about education. I have been 

 president of the University of Wisconsin for about a year now, 

 and I am beginning to see what he means. 



Encouragement by Government Support 



Without doubt, much of the money is going to have to 

 come from the federal government. At the present time, the 

 Department of Defense contributes some $300 million a year 

 for research under university direction. The 1959 appropri- 

 ations of the National Science Foundation provide an addi- 

 tional $130 million. We have a six-year federal program pro- 

 viding for loans to gifted students with a billion dollar price 

 tag. We have had such agencies established as the National 

 Aeronautics and Space Administration, apparently with some 

 $250 million available to it for research, and we have the con- 

 tinuing programs in the field of atomic energy, with new ones 

 promised in astronomy and a number of other fields. Add to 

 this the $5 to $10 billion being spent by industry largely for 

 research and development, plus the one or two billion provided 

 by private foundations and state appropriations to university 

 research, and you have some idea of the magnitude of our 

 present scientific venture. 



For the universities this means that, in addition to con- 

 ducting a large amount of contract research, we must continu- 

 ally train good scientists to man the steadily expanding scientific 

 program. Fortunately research and education run hand in hand 

 — the best way to train a young scientist is to have him spend 

 part of his time studying and the other part working directly 

 on a research project. Thus, in universities we have available 

 what might be termed a fairly inexpensive technical labor force. 

 Moreover, the individuals making up this labor force have an 

 intense interest in their subject, are eager to work long hours, 

 and it is not possible to consider them as merely an item on the 



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