198 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



no conception o£ what is likely to be found. As Dr. Baker 

 said when discussing the discovery of the x-rays: 



If someone had thought it convenient to make the human 

 body transparent, and had allocated money for the research, 

 the result would have been a comprehensive plan, a team 

 of research workers, a very large card index, a waste of 

 money, and no x-rays. . . . Yon Rontgen had no thought 

 of trying to make human flesh transparent when he discov- 

 ered the penetrating powers of x-rays. He was interested 

 in the phenomena of electric discharge in high vacua, and 

 did not guess that the result of his work would be the dis- 

 covery that certain rays could be used in the diagnosis and 

 treatment of human illness.* 



A most interesting discussion on the planning of scientific 

 research has arisen in the columns of the New York Times 

 following the publication of the report by Bush to the Presi- 

 dent of the United States. The report was criticized in an 

 editorial (New York Times ^ J^^ly 21, 1945) on the ground 

 that it does not go far enough in providing for the planning 

 of the work under the control of the federal government. 

 This editorial brought a reply from J. B. Conant, who had 

 through the war been the chairman of the National Defense 

 Research Committee. Dr. Conant's views may be summarized 

 by a quotation: "There is only one proved method of assist- 

 ing the advancement of pure science— that of picking men of 

 genius, backing them heavily, and leaving them to direct 

 themselves. There is only one proved method of getting 

 results in applied science— picking men of genius, backing 

 them heavily, and keeping their aim on the target chosen." 



In wartime, targets can be chosen with a reasonable degree 

 of certainty and the second procedure succeeds. In pure 

 science, no such objective can be defined. The subject was 

 taken up by O. E. Buckley, president of the Bell Telephone 

 Laboratories,-)" who protests against the idea that industrial 



* John R. Baker, The Scientific Life, p. 59, London, George Allen 

 and Unwin, Ltd., 1942. 



f This is by far the largest research laboratory in the world, employing 

 over five thousand people and costing about 530,000,000 a year. 



