ALLEN V. ASTIN 



this general problem is that of the placement of specific basic 

 research projects. I note this in passing, but shall not offer any 

 extended discussion on this point. 



I believe it would be useful in dealing with the problem 

 of basic research in government laboratories if I were to provide 

 some descriptive background about the nature and origins of 

 government laboratories. When you consider that todav the 

 government operates more than one hundred laboratories, many 

 of which estimate staff sizes by thousands, you become aware of 

 the commitment to science of the federal agencies in terms of 

 facilities, equipment, and personnel. Of course, the extent of 

 this commitment is chiefly a characteristic of the last quarter 

 century of our history. Prior to the Civil War, the government's 

 interest in science was limited to the observational and collect- 

 ing activities of a few federal institutions. The work of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Naval Observatory, and the 

 Smithsonian Institution deserve special mention. In the period 

 leading up to the turn of the nineteenth century, government 

 science programs became active in a number of other federal 

 organizations, notably the Geological Survey, the Weather 

 Bureau, and the newly established Department of Agriculture. 

 By World War I, the National Bureau of Standards had a 

 fifteen-year-old research program in operation and a number 

 of military laboratories had been established. 



Before World War I, the federal research programs may 

 be characterized as follows. They were principally in-house 

 programs performed by government scientists. They were ori- 

 ented to meet the immediate problems of the agency or of a 

 particular segment of society which the agency serves. Projects 

 which were undertaken were supposed to be of direct applica- 

 bility to an operating mission assigned to the parent agency. 

 For example, agriculture research activities of laboratories of 

 the Department of Agriculture were directed to meet the daily 



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