192 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



when the rapidly growing recognition of the importance of research 

 to the future of industry brought about a strong demand for well- 

 trained and able research workers. The differential in salaries be- 

 tween industries and the universities was great enough to attract away 

 from the latter too many of the promising postgraduates and younger 

 faculty members whose continued presence in the universities was 

 essential for the preservation of high standards of teaching and re- 

 search. At that time the condition was especially true in chemistry ; 

 it is now true in physics. It can safely be said that the universities 

 have not completely restored the former balance, although the 

 wealthier universities are now able to attract and keep the best men. 

 Since the end of World "War II the additional governmental require- 

 ments for men with sound scientific training and good technical judg- 

 ment have caused new inroads on the staffs of universities as well as 

 of industrial laboratories. Many productive investigators have spent 

 much time as consultants to, or full-time participants in. Government 

 organizations. The importance of this participation in national 

 affairs is unquestionable; it is a service that the universities are 

 uniquely fitted to render to the nation. It does, however, withdraw 

 keymen from teaching and research. Furthermore, the needs of the 

 Defense Establishment, backed by large budgets, have brought con- 

 tracts for research and development into the departments of many of 

 our universities and colleges. Many of these projects fall more in 

 the class of development than that of research, and their value in 

 promoting sound training for scientists or in leading men into habits 

 of imaginative research is open to question. Indeed, a number of 

 serious thinkers have expressed concern — for example, the New York 

 Times recently quoted G. B. Kistiakowsky as saying to a conference 

 at Mount Holyoke : 



I see ourselves threatened with a generation of scientific workers who know 

 how to carry out instructions and to follow in the footsteps of others, but who 

 have not learned how to discover a rewarding researcli problem, how to plan the 

 attack on it and how to solve it. And whether we are training the students 

 for industrial leadership or perchance for a life of a college scientist, we are not 

 doing a good job this way. 



Altogether, it might appear that pure research is in danger of being 

 smothered or starved by its own aggressive and powerful offspring. 

 In passing, however, we may note that much more serious problems 

 would have faced the world of science had these offspring been weak 

 and sickly. 



PROMOTION OF BASIC RESEARCH 



In discussing figure 2, 1 stated that the incentive for pure research 

 was curiosity aroused by some phenomenon, and that its objective 



