412 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
research in American universities and colleges pointed out the great 
use of these organizations in training research men and in conducting 
basic research, a field in which universities excel, for they are largely 
free from the responsibility for solving specific problems. The sum- 
mary of findings and recommendations presented many suggestions 
which recent studies have shown to be essential to the increase of 
research both nationally and internationally. 
The popularization of science was well under way at the time of the 
Second World War. General public interest in science was advanced 
further by the Germans in their oft-repeated mention of secret wea- 
pons. During their impressive early successes, these threats reached 
every ear—as indeed they were planned to do. The growth of allied 
superiority in the development of new devices both for offense and 
defense was given equal publicity. A parade of new and improved 
weapons culminating in the proximity fuse and the atomic bomb, left 
with the general public the fixed idea that success in warfare was de- 
pendent more on skilled scientists than on the millions of bayonets once 
boasted by a late dictator. 
While the war was still in progress and the outcome by no means 
certain, the role of science in the postwar world was the subject of 
active discussion in Britain. This was a logical trend, for Britain is 
no stranger to state-supported science. In the several councils for 
agricultural, medical, and industrial research, in various governmen- 
tal research laboratories, and in grants to universities for facilitating 
fundamental research, there exists a broad base for state-supported 
science. Beyond this, there was a steady drift toward the full utiliza- 
tion of science in the war effort, an urge that came from scientists and 
government alike. Late in 1941 a meeting of prominent scientists 
and representatives of the war science committees was called by officers 
of the Royal Society. The principal subjects for discussion were post- 
war problems, including those of the immediate postwar period as well 
as those relating to the welfare of the peoples of the Empire. Even 
in these preliminary discussions it was stressed that while a little coor- 
dination may be necessary to guide research into profitable paths and 
guard against useless duplication, science must be kept free from close 
supervision which could develop into regimentation. 
This trend toward planning for postwar research continued in suc- 
ceeding years. There were people who still insisted that the develop- 
ment of science should be left to individual initiative, but they were 
fighting a losing battle against those who said that science should be 
centrally organized and that research in many fields must be expanded 
by government action. The phenomenal success of science in warfare, 
which by this time was turning the tide of battle, was quoted as a sign 
that freedom from want could be insured only through a full utiliza- 
