6 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



Mr. DoRN. Do you think that the total program is adequate at the 

 present time? 



Mr. Vetter. No, sir ; I do not. 



Mr. DoRN. What do you third?: should be done about it? 



Mr. Vetter. I think, first of all, it is necessary to make money 

 available for fellowship programs. The greatest roadblock in pro- 

 ceeding with this is to iXQt the people into the system that we need. 

 It takes a rather long time to take a man out of one field of science 

 and familiarize him with the problems he can and cannot solve in 

 the oceans, so that the first step is to try to do something about the 

 manpower problem. 



One of the fastest ways to proceed would be to make post- 

 graduate fellowships available so that topflight people from other 

 areas of the scientific interest, from mathematics, from biology and 

 chemistry, could be attracted into the field. 



Coupled with this, I think it is extremely important that we do 

 something about replacing the old inadequate ships that are now 

 being used for marine sciences thereby providing a mechanism for 

 doing more work, for doing it more efficiently, and also for attracting 

 more people into the business. 



If we can provide better ships, better laboratory facilities, the 

 problem of attracting new people into the field will become somewhat 

 lessened. 



I think there are really two urgent problems. One is manpower 

 and the other is ships and laboratory facilities. 



Mr. DoRN. I have no further questions. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Dingell ? 



Mr. Dingell. Yes, Mr. Chairman. 



I have been very interested in this and I would like to have the 

 witness tell this committee some of the practical benefits that can 

 come to this country as the result of an increase of study in this field. 

 In asking this question, I would like to say this : There are many, of 

 whom I am not one, who feel that the only justification for the ex- 

 penditure of Government money is, let us say, some practical imme- 

 diate result that is visible for all to see. 



I am sure there will be this practical result from this and I would 

 like to hear the witness tell us some of this immediate practical bene- 

 fit that will flow from the expanded program in this field. 



Mr. Vetter. It is much easier to point out practical benefits that 

 have occurred, 



Mr. Dingell. I would be willing to accept that. 



Mr. Vetter. It is very dangerous to try to promise that a certain 

 research project will have a practical end product. The very nature 

 of scientific activities is that the practical results come fi'om some- 

 thing completely unexpected. 



One example that comes to mind involves a program which is now 

 underway for routing ships across the North Atlantic and North 

 Pacific in such a way that their passage time can be reduced. They 

 are routed to avoid ocean waves that will cut down their transit 

 crossing. 



This is analogous to the practice that aircraft have of finding the 

 appropriate elevation to pick up favorable tailwinds in flying back 

 and forth across the country. Each ship has its own reaction to ocean 



