Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 



ALEXANDER WETMORE 



For the Year Ended June 30, 1951 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith my report 

 showing the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution 

 and its branches during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1951. 



GENERAL STATEMENT 



The lengthy discussions and debates among both scientists and 

 legislators that preceded the creation of the National Science Founda- 

 tion, on May 10, 1950, are reminiscent of the ten-year deliberations 

 more than a century ago that culminated in the establishment of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson, the English benefactor 

 who bequeathed half a million dollars to the United States of America 

 to found at Washington "an institution for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men," had been dead 17 years before our Govern- 

 ment decided what form the "institution" was to take or even to 

 accept the gift. Finally, on August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk 

 signed the bill that created the Smithsonian Institution, our first 

 "national science foundation," With that act, which was actively 

 supported by John Quincy Adams, Joel R. Poinsett, and other 

 science-minded leaders of the day, our Government formally recog- 

 nized that science is a matter of national concern', and as a nation 

 we committed ourselves to the Jeffersonian idea that science is a 

 legitimate function of government. 



Today, in the wake of the atom bomb, no one dares question that 

 concept. Present-day exigencies have forced us to recognize that 

 there are certain types of scientific investigation which are essential 

 to our national security and that these must not be left to haphazard 

 and uncertain backing of private individuals and organizations, no 

 matter how worthy or well-meaning. They must be publicly and 

 continuously financed so long as science continues to be so strategically 

 integrated with our politics, economics, and social well-being. The 

 statement that "this is the age of science" has taken on deeper and 

 more somber implications. 



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