CRAWFORD H. GREENEWALT 



cerned primarily with the present. For the future, we must 

 place our reliance on basic research, which is to say the new 

 discoveries in pure science which will support applied research 

 in the years to come. 



We might liken our pool of basic scientific knowledge to 

 a savings account from which we make withdrawals as we 

 convert that knowledge through applied research to new prod- 

 ucts and processes. As with all savings accounts, bankruptcy 

 lies ahead when withdrawals exceed deposits. To keep our 

 scientific balance in healthy condition, we must insure always 

 that our deposits derived from basic research are never less than 

 our technological withdrawals. 



Certainly no one can take issue with the necessity for 

 basic research, for to do so would be to deny the impact of 

 human creativity on our spiritual and material well being. Each 

 step forward in man's progress can be traced back to a flash of 

 creative genius in the mind of some gifted individual. To him 

 the utility of his brain child is far less important than his success 

 in penetrating to some small degree the dark curtains of our 

 ignorance. I am reminded of my friend, Professor Edgerton of 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has been attempt- 

 ing to photograph the ocean floor at depths of several miles. 

 Someone asked him what he expected to find and what use he 

 expected to make of his observations. He replied, "If I knew, 

 I wouldn't do it." 



Were it necessary to justify in material terms each effort 

 at new discovery, I doubt that there would be room in our 

 society for basic research or, in fact, for individual creativity in 

 any form. Had Newton to justify his work on universal gravita- 

 tion to a profit-minded board of directors, I suspect that the fall- 

 ing apple would have given him no more than an unpleasant 

 bump on the head. Had Shakespeare to guarantee a paying 

 audience for each of his plays, I doubt that we would have 



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