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18 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE NEXT DECADE 



oceanographic research on the frontiers of knowledge. Excellence 

 in oceanography also requires harmony between its basic scien- 

 tific aims and the pressing needs of society. 



We cannot take for granted the continued excellence of ocean- 

 ography in the United States because the foundation of facilities 

 and human resources developed in the past must be renewed con- 

 stantly. Continued excellence in oceanography is essential to the 

 national interests of the United States. Agencies that fund ocean- 

 ography can help maintain the competence of the field as problem 

 areas change. Flexibility and variety in scientific approaches can 

 be maintained by an extramural funding strategy that both re- 

 sponds to changing problems and needs and maintains a strong 

 overall base of scientific activities in the field as a whole. It is 

 more difficult for agencies to respond quickly to change through 

 their own laboratories. 



Vannevar Bush's Science: The Endless Frontier is still the clas- 

 sic statement of the essential ingredients of scientific excellence. 

 He noted that "without scientific progress no amount of achieve- 

 ment in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and 

 security as a nation in the modern world. This essential new 

 knowledge can only be obtained through basic scientific research.". 

 He further stated that "basic research is performed without thought 

 of practical ends . . . leads to new knowledge, provides scientific 

 capital, creates the funds from which the practical applications of 

 knowledge must be drawn." Finally, he stated that "government 

 must fund science in accordance to certain fundamental principles" 

 including the essentiality of quality, improved efficiency of re- 

 search expenditures, and increased cooperation in setting goals 

 and priorities. 



U.S. OCEANOGRAPHY SINCE WORLD WAR II 



In the aftermath of World War II, the United States constructed 

 a scientific research mechanism of outstanding success, which for 

 years dominated scientific progress. Many studies described the 

 nature of this research enterprise. A wide consensus exists that 

 much of its success has been due to the partnership between the 

 federal agencies that became the patrons of science and technol- 

 ogy and the major research universities, both public and private. 

 Marine science shared in the general outstanding progress, although 

 its history is exceptional in several ways. 



The war thrust the United States into global affairs, and its 

 many sea campaigns not only drew public interest to the ocean 



