284 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



This meant that the optical satellite-tracking program was to be 

 not only a field operation but also a program of scientific research. 

 In turn, this meant that the project needed a certain margin for error, 

 an opportunity to fail and to profit by the failure. 



The scientist is accustomed to such failure. He will undertake a 

 research project, may carry it part or all the way through, and then 

 realize that he has been on the wrong track. If possible, he then 

 starts all over again. His essential task is to find the truth, and the 

 route to that truth may be roundabout. 



These problems were not miique to the satellite-tracking program. 

 Other scientific groups entering this field of space research with great 

 enthusiasm in 1955 tended not only to underestimate the cost, time, 

 and personnel required, but also to slight the fundamental nature 

 of research in their proposals to and demands of the Government. 

 With all the hustle and bustle of the U.S. National Committee and 

 its subcommittees, many phases of the IGY program seem to have 

 been on an ad hoc basis, perhaps necessarily so. The result was much 

 improvisation, much shifting and changing, and much need of ex- 

 planation that sometimes appeared to be mere rationalization. 



On the other hand, many factors worked in favor of the space pro- 

 gram, and especially that of the Smithsonian. The IGY was, in the 

 words of Dr. Berkner, "perhaps the most ambitious and at the same 

 time the most successful cooperative enterprise ever undertaken by 

 man." ^ As such, not only did it conunand the dedicated effort of 

 thousands of scientists throughout the world, it also aroused a remark- 

 able enthusiasm among the peoples of many countries. Millions saw 

 in it an example of international goodwill and cooperation such as 

 they had only too rarely known. The IGY, particularly its space 

 projects, fired the imagination of people who, when called upon to 

 do so, gave to it their fullest cooperation. As we shall see, hard- 

 headed businessmen were willing to sacrifice time and money to help 

 the Smithsonian establish its satellite-tracking program. The success 

 of that program, despite its many headaches and heartaches, resulted 

 in no small measure from the zealous interest and willing support of 

 the public, as well as from the determined efforts of research scientists, 

 field personnel, and management to work together harmoniously and 

 productively. 



PLANNING 



IGY GRANT 



The first IGY grant to the Smithsonian became effective January 1, 

 1956, and continued to the end of June of the same year. Its purpose 



« From his Foreword to "IGY : Tho. Year of the New Moons," by J. Tuzo Wilson, p. 

 vii, Knopf, 1961. 



