Position of Science in the Present War ' 



Imcrican invcnlivcness in science, u-liicli lias tjiccn birth to (he telegraph, the 



telephone, the phonograph, the rapid-firing gun, and the flying machine, 



put also the submarine into the hands of the enemy in the great 



World War, but tliis same American inventiveness will 



soon prove the submarine a most fragile weapon 



hy M. I. IM" IM N 



Professor of Electromeclianios, Columbia University 



IX a world crisis like tlie prc^cnl war 

 each human factor plays its true 

 part. Virtue and merit shine with 

 everlasting glorV; sham and pretense 

 are swept away like chart' before the 

 wind. That which is strong stands and 

 makes things move, that which is feeble 

 falls and is buried in the dust. 



Xo human endeavor during this 

 world crisis has proved its virtue more 

 splendidly than the efforts of the men 

 of science. When the war started, Brit- 

 ish scientists rushed to the trenches of 

 Flanders ; all honor to their patriotic 

 zeal I But before the war had pro- 

 gressed ver}' far, England discovered 

 that the true place for her scientists 

 was not in the trenches of Flanders but 

 in the research laboratories where they 

 could apply their training and their 

 skill in developing those scientific ap- 

 pliances without which no victory can 

 be expected over an enemy who has for 

 nearly fifty years been preparing for 

 this war in the finest scientific labora- 

 tories of the world. The misapplication 

 of science by a ruthless enemy forced 

 England to start in the midst of this 

 war a wise and efficient application of 

 science. She recalled many of her 

 scientists from the trenches of Flan- 

 ders and started tliem to work in the 

 lal)oratories of the Fnited Kingdom. 

 Tn this manner was born the Advisory 

 Council for Scientific and Engineering 

 Research in the United Kingdom. 

 General Haig in one of his reports 



sj)caks in the very highest terms of the 

 great services which this scientific body 

 contril)uted to the defense of Great 

 Britain. England's preparation for this 

 war consisted not only in drilling her 

 armies and in reorganizing her indus- 

 trial plants but also in organizing her 

 scientific research facilities for the de- 

 fense of everything for which England 

 stands. The result has been magnifi- 

 cent. 



What I have just said of England is 

 equally true of France. The fate of 

 France is just as much in the hands of 

 her men of science as it is in the hands 

 of her heroic soldiers, who kept the 

 Teuton out of Paris and out of Ver- 

 dun and are forcing him now to retreat 

 from the sacred soil of France. Carnot, 

 the greatest scientific genius of his 

 time, was also a great power in the de- 

 fense of his country when, a hundred 

 vears ago, France was attacked by the 

 great League of Europe. Today Pain- 

 leve, the mathematician, is a distin- 

 guished meml)er of the War Cabinet of 

 France, and Painlcve is the general of 

 the great French army of scientists who 

 are making the attacks of the French 

 arms so deadly to the enemy. 



The scientific men of the United 

 States are better organized today than 

 they ever were before, because they feel 

 that the country needs now the very 

 best efforts of their service. About two 

 years ago President Wil.«on appointed 

 a Xational Advisorv Committee on 



' Presidential address before the New York Aoademy of Sciences. 



269 



