SUPPORT FROM PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY 



for deciding how philanthropy might proceed in the future in 

 encouraging the basic research which is so much needed. 



One of the first things to he noticed in such a historical re- 

 view is that basic research really did not require very much 

 money until very recent times. Even today some of the most 

 provocative and general thoughts come from individuals work- 

 ing in restricted space and with relatively simple apparatus. 

 Genetics which started in a monastery garden is even today 

 largely a matter of test tubes, Petri dishes, and conventional 

 microscopes. It is only when we get around to exploring the 

 chemical structure of genes and transforming factors that heavy 

 and expensive equipment becomes essential. 



What has always been needed has been curiosity and 

 brains. Conscious philanthropy cannot do much about increas- 

 ing the supply of curiosity and brains. These are gifts which 

 have to be taken pretty much as they are found. The support 

 of basic research has to focus on providing the opportunity for 

 their use. The support of basic research is in essence then the 

 care and feeding of researchers. How was this done in the past? 

 As far as one can see from a brief and admittedly sketchy survey 

 of the literature the great majority of contributors to basic 

 research fall into the following categories: 



i . Pensioners and court appointees 



2. Men of independent means 



3. Professional people who practiced just enough to sup- 

 ply their physical needs and used their spare time for 

 research 



4. University professors 



It has not been possible to make any sort of quantitative 

 analysis of the scientific contributions made bv these several 

 categories. Perhaps some aspiring Ph.D. student will some day 

 draw an adequate sample and, utilizing the appropriate chi 



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