BASIC RESEARCH AND THE STATE UNIVERSITY 



additions to our hind or fundamental knowledge concerning 

 vitamins and nutrition. 



The Isolated Researcher 



I think this is also a good example to illustrate another 

 point that 1 would like to make, and one that is probably 

 abundantly obvious to all by this time. We still have examples 

 of invaluable contributions made to mankind's knowledge by 

 isolated workers with an urge to stretch beyond the confines of 

 a narrow task. But by and large, we must recognize that the 

 bread-and-water diet is no longer sufficient to foster the kind of 

 scientific development we most urgently need. Research has 

 become one of our social and economic institutions, and we 

 must exercise a certain amount of caution to see that it is 

 organized most efficiently for all concerned, for the individuals 

 who conduct research and for society as a whole. 



By efficiency I do not necessarily mean the kind of 

 efficiency that comes under the category of cost accounting, 

 and perhaps here I may be treading on dangerous territory. 

 But creative scientists are more closely allied to creative artists 

 than we might ordinarily think, and while, like artists, they 

 are with rare exceptions willing and eager to stay within an 

 established budgetary figure, they are not able to do their proper 

 work and keep track of where every penny goes at the same 

 time. I know that this is necessary in industry and perhaps even 

 in government and to some extent in universities, but I firmlv 

 believe that basic scientific research is not compatible with the 

 modern refinements of cost accounting. The human mind is 

 incapable of thinking of more than two or three things at a 

 time, and it can concentrate on only one with anv degree of 

 intensity. To ask a scientist working on the intricacies of 



IOI 



