THE SUPPORT OF BASIC RESEARCH 



and sometimes mueh more costly. The modern need may be 

 for a particle accelerator eosting many millions of dollars, an 

 oceanographic research vessel, a carefully controlled environ- 

 ment for biological studies, or for peace and freedom to think. 



What the scientist needs is not always what the donor or 

 supporting agency wants to provide. In fact, what the donors 

 are willing to provide may be quite inappropriate, for their 

 thinking sometimes lags behind new scientific ideas, and often, 

 rather curiously, lags behind the practical realities of the mo- 

 ment. They know what has been done, but usually not what is 

 just beginning to be thought about. They may be prejudiced 

 against forms of support that were not very practical some time 

 ago, but that have now become critically necessary. 



But it is the donors and supporting agencies who have the 

 money that can be used to remove the limitations. This fact 

 puts the scientist under temptation to do the kind of work, or to 

 describe his plans in the terms, that will appeal to some avail- 

 able source of funds. No one knows how much distortion of 

 research plans has actually resulted, but even if there has been 

 no deliberate distortion, at very best there has been a too early 

 freezing of plans in order to permit a scientist to describe a 

 project in sufficient detail to secure a grant. And frequently the 

 processes and delays of securing financial support have been a 

 distraction from the main business of research. 



A number of participants pointed out that it is particularly 

 difficult to secure support for work in new fields. Yet it is pre- 

 cisely in new fields that important new knowledge is most likely 

 to be developed. In 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen, in seven highly 

 productive weeks, less than the time it now takes to negotiate 

 a research contract, discovered x rays and so exhaustively 

 studied their properties that little basic knowledge was added 

 for 1 7 years. This and similar items from the history of science 

 led several participants to play the speculative game "What 



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