s 



s. 



SUPPORT FROM PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY 



people provided for by outside funds or this sort far exeeeds the 

 number of regular institutional appointments. This situation 

 has of recent years begun to raise questions in the minds of 

 academic administrators and others responsible for the progress 

 of science. The temporary nature of most of their support is a 

 constant source of anxiety not only to the people so supported 

 but also to the professors and deans who share the responsibility 

 for their appointments but lack control over the necessary funds 



In pointing this out we are not merely asking for sympathy 

 (or those burdened by personal or administrative uncertainties. 

 It seems more than likely that such uncertainties interfere 

 seriouslv with the progress of basic research. Young men are 

 constantly put under pressure to select sure fire problems, the 

 solution of which can easily be foreseen and published. Almost 

 by definition such problems are less basic than the vaguer more 

 puzzling questions which take unhurried time and reflection 

 merely to ask. The urge to publish almost anything that can be 

 called new, whether or not it is significant, has further baleful 

 effects. It overstuffs our journals, overloads the stacks of our 

 libraries, and gags those who still try to swallow the ever increas- 

 ing flow of what is so politely referred to as literature. The high 

 ratio of temporarv junior workers to established senior investi- 

 gators puts serious administrative and teaching burdens on the 

 latter. It thus develops that many of our best and most original 

 minds become preoccupied with the business aspects of science 

 at the very moment when in happier times they became free to 

 give the bulk of their energy to unfettered research. 



Fortunatelv, the situation is increasingly being recog- 

 nized and steps are being taken to change matters. Grants are 

 being given for longer periods of time and with fewer strings 

 attached. Fellowship appointments are being lengthened, and 

 quite recently three of the leading categorical foundations have 

 come up with a new invention to assure "support throughout 



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