ROBERT E. WILSON 



wise have carried out basic research at the universities, but many 

 of them were also the inspirational teachers who would have 

 attracted and trained the new scientists whom the country needs 

 in increasing numbers. Industry is frequently accused of paving 

 only lip service to the importance of basic research, while 

 following courses of action that make it increasingly difficult 

 for scientists, even in our universities, to concentrate on basic 

 problems as distinct from immediate practical ones. 



I need not add my voice to those which have stressed the 

 fundamental importance of better support for basic research, if 

 the country, including its many industries, is to continue to 

 make rapid progress. Such progress is essential for a rising 

 standard of living and the well-being of the whole nation. I 

 believe I can best fulfill my role as a spokesman for industry if 

 I endeavor to discuss what industry has been doing increasingly 

 to support basic research, various methods which have been 

 used to accomplish this result, some of the problems which 

 industry faces in doing more in this area, and some specific sug- 

 gestions which I hope may prove helpful. 



What Industry Is Doing to Support 

 Basic Research 



In endeavoring to analyze what industry is doing in this 

 field, we encounter one of the basic difficulties, the lack of 

 reliable quantitative information as to basic research expendi- 

 tures for industry as a whole. In part this is due to the lack of 

 a clear line of demarcation between basic research and what 

 might be called long-range applied research. I am reluctant to 

 add to the reams which have been written on this subject of 

 definition, but I should like to say that I do not believe that for 

 research to qualify as basic the worker must be entirely disinter- 

 ested in or oblivious to the possible usefulness of the results of 

 his work. Utter aimlessness should not be considered a particular 



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