NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR RESEARCH? 
By J. E. Grar 
Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 
If any common ground for international thinking has emerged 
from the wide conflict just ended, it is that the world is looking forward 
to a higher level of well-being for all. Leaders both in Britain and in 
this country have given expression to such intentions, and the hopes 
of most peoples are in complete agreement. As we survey the colossal 
destruction of the war in human, scientific, cultural, and material 
resources, it 1s clear that the attainment of these hopes is a major 
challenge to the human race. 
Science received world-wide recognition during and in the period 
following the First World War. King Albert of the Belgians ad- 
vanced science on a national basis by subsidizing research laboratories 
in universities. Industrial research grew rapidly. Even the man 
in the street became aware of the importance of science and invention, 
for articles on important scientific and technological advances ap- 
peared in the daily press. This development was stimulated by the 
appointment of science writers by several metropolitan newspapers. 
The intelligent and fair approach of these writers to their subject did 
much to bridge the gulf which had hitherto separated the scientific 
from the nonscientific. 
In 1988 there was published by the National Resources Planning 
Board under the title “Research, a National Resource,” a thorough 
study of the relation of the Federal Government to research in the 
United States. In pointing out that research is a national resource, 
it directed attention to the obvious need for the development of that 
resource. In this admirable study an analysis was made of the amounts 
expended by agencies of the Federal Government and of the various 
fields covered. It included as well a discussion of restrictions on the 
use of Federal funds for research, including suggestions for improve- 
ment, many of which have since received favorable mention both in 
England and in the Bush report in this country. The section on 
1 Address of the retiring president of the Washington Academy of Sciences, delivered 
before the Academy on the evening of February 21, 1946. Reprinted by permission from 
the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 86, No. 4, April 15, 1946. 
411 
725362—47——_28 
