14 



are not being reached by the present methods of spreading scien- 

 tific knowledge about farming. 



In foreign laboratories, there has been greater secrecy, 

 apparently, than in the United States, with a y^robable 

 corresponding reduction in over-all efhciency. In some 

 totalitarian countries ability to assign a considerable 

 number of investigators to an individual problem may 

 offset partially such inefficient policies, and such ability 

 is of special significance in areas of technologj- where 

 the fundamental creative work has been done and 

 where applications are required that depend more upon 

 training and experience than upon the creative ability 

 of skilled research scientists. 



One practice reported as tried in Soviet Russia has 

 interesting possibilities. If a research man shows out- 

 standing ability in a particular field the government 

 may build him a laboratory, equip it well, and provide a 

 staff of as many men as can be used. Incidentally, the 

 staff and even the mechanics and all the helpers are 

 understood to have their say in the choice and conduct 

 of the program. 



The Soviet Union has also attempted coordination of 

 research on a grand scale. In one instance 18 large 

 laboratories submitted plans for research in the chem- 

 istry of solid fuels (coal), and after study by a centra- 

 lized body, assignments were distributed and financ- 

 ing guaranteed for 180 projects. An American coal 

 scientist reports use there of excellent equipment, capa- 

 able research leaders, and well-organized general scope 

 of activity. He was especially impressed bj' the mass of 

 technical data being compiled on the nature of the fuel 

 resources. 



"Men in Research" 



Chemists dominated the early industrial laboratories 

 and even now approximately 25 percent of industrial 

 laboratory men have specialized in chemistry. Opinions 

 differ as to whether this dominance has been due to the 

 nature and scope of the science or whether research 

 going on within the science developed interest and skill 

 in the use of the research method. There is also some 

 uncertainty as to whether the flow of technically trained 

 men into industry brouglit research with it, or whether 

 the demand of industry led to the great expansion of 

 chemistry, chemical engineering, and other technical 

 courses. One of the first of the great industrial labora- 

 tories started without a physicist, though the industry 

 was based on physics. A similar situation originally 

 held in other industries — the research director of a great 

 steel company was trained as a chemical engineer, not a 

 metallurgist; the research directors of the early food 

 laboratories had little training in biological subjects. 

 Other disciplines are gaining recognition, however. In 

 one outstanding example, physicists formed the Ameri- 

 can Institute of Physics and made intensive eflort to 



National Resources Flanning Board 



present the possibilities of applied physics to industry. 

 The number of industrial physicists in the laboratories 

 has increased significantly, and there is gradually 

 increasing recognition of biologists, mathematicians and 

 men trained in other disciplines, including the several 

 divisions of engineering. 



"Chemistry in Industrial Research" presents the most 

 mature of the research disciplines. As such it speaks 

 in part for otlier disciplines in a discussion of origins of 

 research programs and to some degree their conduct. 

 At the other extreme of acceptance by industr}', how- 

 ever, are the biologists. From the results of the inves- 

 tigation made and reported in the study by Dr. E. B. 

 Fred and Dr. C. N. Frey, there is reason to believe that 

 opportunity exists for tremendous increases in the 

 number of biologists, in the food industries particularly. 

 It was found, however, that some changes in the teach- 

 ing of applied biology in the universities for this pur- 

 pose are desirable. 



In the more highly developed laboratories, mathe- 

 matics is beginning to find its special place. It would 

 seem probable that with the extension and refinement 

 of research method and policy there will be increasing 

 dependence upon mathematics. This may be true 

 particularly as more obvious research opportunities 

 become exhausted by relatively simple and crude 

 approaches. Dr. Thornton C. Fry, speaking for the 

 profession, states that no university offers a complete 

 and satisfactory curriculum in applied mathematics. 

 He has made the definite recommendation that such a 

 course be organized and offered by one of the univer- 

 sities. His present estimate of a very few graduates of 

 such a course per year is of course no measure of the 

 possible significance of such a step. 



Of the various professional societies actively inter- 

 ested in research, the American Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers has one of the most highly developed pro- 

 grams under its own auspices. Activities in coopera- 

 tion with this Survey are being made the basis for a 

 reconsideration of the research of the Socict.y. It is 

 well to note that mechanical, electrical, and other 

 engineers are playing increasingly important parts in 

 research as contrasted with straight engineering. In 

 some of the larger machinery laboratories, for example, 

 engineers predominate with possibly a few physicists 

 and a few or no chemists. 



From the duplication apparent in the report of vari- 

 ous applied sciences and particularly from the studj' of 

 border-line zones, it will be noted that the lines of 

 demarcation between the various pure and applied 

 sciences have begun to disappear and in some instances 

 arc quite obliterated. There remain, however, many 

 areas, particularly on the fringes of the various sciences, 

 that have not been developed satisfactorily. A few 

 companies liave surveyed their special branches of 



