LEE A. DUBRIDGE 



are aimed solely at the perfection of particular devices or tech- 

 niques. Our computer laboratory does not aim principally at the 

 improvement of computer circuitry, hut rather at basically 

 new ways of using the computer as an instrument to solve sci- 

 entific, engineering, and technical problems, and as a new tool 

 to aid in the development of applied mathematics. The aero- 

 nautics laboratory does not design airplanes; it learns about 

 the properties of airflow. And so on. 



One useful criterion which helps many decisions in this 

 field is that to be acceptable in any area a research program 

 must be one which is consistent with and contributes to the edu- 

 cational program. This means it must be one in which graduate 

 students can participate. This means, among other things, it 

 must not be "classified," either for reasons of trade secrecy or 

 military security. Also, it must not be one which provides 

 exclusive patent rights to the sponsor. As far as the on-campus 

 program is concerned, these rules are now rigidly followed. 



Does that mean we have no wav of being of service in the 

 field of national defense or industrial development? Not 

 necessarily. When we have found it necessary or desirable — 

 since the close of World War II — to undertake classified activ- 

 ities, they have been done in off-campus installations where re- 

 stricted access does not inconvenience the teaching program or 

 interrupt the free access to all parts of the campus. We operate 

 two such off-campus installations now: the government-owned 

 Jet Propulsion Laboratory (now the principal laboratory of the 

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space flight 

 research) and the Cooperative Wind Tunnel (owned coopera- 

 tively by a group of aircraft companies). In both cases Caltech 

 initiated the work of these laboratories during World War II 

 and has continued them ever since under a nonprofit manage- 

 ment contract. A number of years ago a temporary classified 

 project was carried on in leased space about two miles from the 



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