DAEL WOLFLE 



animal, but a few marine animals "look" like plants, and among 

 the simple one-celled organisms there are some that puzzle 

 the biologists, for the usual distinctions break down. 



So it is with research. Exact boundaries defy definition, 

 but for practical purposes the difference between basic and 

 applied research is real and useful. 



What Arrangements Will Best Support 

 Basic Research? 



Granting that new knowledge leads to practically useful 

 inventions, and that the search for new knowledge is one of 

 man's highest and most distinctively human pursuits, how can 

 the search for new knowledge best be fostered? There is no 

 single way, no single golden path to research success. There 

 are many ways to strengthen and support basic research, for 

 basic research is a varied activity, carried out under varied con- 

 ditions. The answers given by symposium participants fall natu- 

 rally into three groups. 



First, the general intellectual environment in which a 

 scholar works clearly forms one of the conditions that deter- 

 mines whether or not his work will find the intellectual re- 

 sponse and financial support necessary for growth and maturity. 



Second, the educational environment is important, partic- 

 ularly in the long-range view. Research is a continuing, cumu- 

 lative venture, with one man building upon another's work, 

 and one generation correcting, refining, and extending the work 

 of the previous generation. The quality of the next genera- 

 tion of research scholars is dependent upon the quality of the 

 educational system in which they are now being trained. 



Third, the immediate research environment — the condi- 

 tions under which a scientist works and the extent to which he 

 is allowed to choose the problems he will investigate, enabled to 

 communicate with other scientists, assisted by the special de- 



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