146 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



deliberate acceleration of radio astronomy in the United States by 

 Federal grants for radio-telescopes, thus to regain a position of emi- 

 nence once held by this Nation. Should the same philosophy apply 

 to tailored stimulation of student interest? By allowing traditional 

 processes to control, the normally democratic methods of treating 

 all with equality would in time produce the needed staff. But in 

 times of crisis or near crisis, there is a question as to whether other 

 techniques must be exercised that are still quite far from the explicit 

 assignment of Soviet 3'oung people into professional fields by Soviet 

 government decree. 



In many regards, the problem of attracting students to science as 

 a career is a problem far transcending that of any single field ; legisla- 

 tion has been addressed to the solution of the much broader problem, 

 such as through the National Defense Education Act of 1958. 



In oceanography, perhaps the most immediate problem is shortage 

 of facilities for teaching, and this is one area that seems best destined 

 for solution simply by increased numbers of grants. Most of the or- 

 ganizations catering to students in some branch of the ocean sciences 

 derived theh initial endowments for facilities from private sources. 

 Certainly all of the universities today are communicating energetically 

 with their alumni with one major problem in mind — ^overcrowded 

 student accommodations. The Federal Government has been pro- 

 posed in the NASCO reports as a source of the necessary funds, al- 

 though the processes by which this can be accomplished are not entu'ely 

 clear. Perhaps this area fits into the plan recently proposed by Dr. 

 James A. Van Allen to the House Science and Astronautics Committee 

 in urging new legislation patterned after the Hill -Burton measure that, 

 through matching Federal-local grants, made possible the widespread 

 development of medical research facilities and hospitals. 



While on the question of manpower, it may be noted that while 

 identifying the problem of manpower shortages, studies have not 

 yet been extended into the area of possibly improved utilization- 

 The NASCO reports did call attention to the ratio of Ph. D. to non- 

 Ph. D. participation in the oceanic research program with the implica. 

 tion that larger numbers of staff at the bachelor and even technician 

 level could contribute to research under the guidance of the more 

 senior Ph. D. scientist. The number of Ph. D.'s to non-Ph. D.'s seems 

 higher than in other fields of research, although these data are exceed- 

 ingly difficult to interpret. Primarily, however, there may be chang- 

 ing patterns of the manner of domg research in oceanography as has 

 occiu"red in other fields wherein the net total of quality-plus-quantity 

 is enhanced by the use of professionals lackmg a doctorate, but still 

 able to contribute significantly. 



C. PROBLEMS IN PROVIDING SHIPS AND FACILITIES 



Except for problems in recruiting manpower, no item in any of the 

 proposals for an accelerated program of research received greater 

 attention than that of the need for additional ships, and for new ships 

 to replace those overage and functionally obsolete now engaged in 

 oceanograpnhy. With one exception, these ships are conversions, 

 and a rather strong case has been made for their inadequacy. Former 

 fishing boats, trawlers, patrol craft, minesweepers, and even pleasure 

 boats are apparently unsuited for tasks at sea when making observa- 



