no 



NationcU Resources Planning Board 



had a slightly greater density than nitrogen prepared 

 by chemical means. A high degree of scientific curi- 

 osity is one of the sources of that driving energy which 

 is so essential to creative work. 



Enthusiasm and receptiveness to new ideas. — These 

 qualities, which are closely allied, are matters of the 

 spirit, and have characterized all great scientists. The 

 man who lacks them will find it difficult to succeed in 

 research and, in most cases, should be encouraged to 

 adopt some other calling. On this type of individual 

 an important research executive says: 



In selecting and dealing with researcli and development men 

 for a number of years I liave come to recognize a type which 

 seem to me disqualifies them, no matter how well trained they 

 may be or how promising tliey may otherwise appear. Tliis 

 type is the man who always seems to have a negative reaction to 

 everything which is suggested. Wlien he concentrates at all it 

 is to bring liis entire mental macliinery into action on the negative 

 instead of the constructive side of a proposal. He uses up all of 

 the time of his directors and associates in an attempt to con- 

 vince them that the thing won't work. He spends ten times as 

 much time trying to prove that it will not work as would be 

 required to try the experiment. He drags his feet in the sand 

 on every program with which he is connected. 



Ambition and diligence. — These characteristics are 

 standard practical virtues, but we use the terms here 

 in a somewhat special sense. The term "ambition" im- 

 plies particularly the intense desire to accomplish well the 

 task in hand, "a worthy eagerness to accomplish some- 

 thing great and good." Diligence does not mean 

 merely keeping busy, but the application of one's whole 

 attention to the task. The exercise of diligence requires 

 mental as well as physical activity, both focused on 

 essentials. For success in research, there is no substi- 

 tute for hard work. The men who succeed pay little 

 attention to the clock or the calendar so far as working 

 hours are concerned. One research director writes: 



The developments which advanced American industry to its 

 present point were not made by men who worked 2,000 hours 

 a year (including hoUdays) , out of a total of 8,760 hours available. 

 It would be interesting to know how many hours and for how 

 many years the directors of industrial research worked (and 

 probably still work) at their jobs during the years in which they 

 accompHshed the results which put them and their industries 

 where they are today. 



Ability to cooperate. — Writers on the qualifications for 

 industrial research personnel have laid particular em- 

 phasis on the need for cooperativeness. Cooperation 

 between individuals in the research organization and 

 between the research organization and other units or 

 divisions of the company is essential. In industrial 

 research work, as in many other fields of endeavor, it 

 is difficult if not impossible for an individual to succeed 

 by his own efforts. The research worker frequently has 

 to seek the advice and assistance of his fellows who have 

 had experience that may be useful to him, and he must 

 be prepared to reciprocate in turn. It is also necessary 



to secure the assistance of persons and facilities in 

 other parts of the company, and this nmst be done 

 through a spirit of cooperation. Cooperativeness 

 should not be negative, but positive and rational. It 

 should not take the form of mere acquiescence as that 

 is of little value to the orgamzation and is harmful to 

 the infiividual. Positive and rational cooperativeness 

 preserves the independence of the individual and is 

 beneficial to both parties. It is in this sense that we 

 use the term. 



Perseverance. — The will to succeed will prevent the 

 scientific worker from being too easily discouraged or 

 deterred from his work by unsuccessful results or by the 

 pessimistic views of others. This quality should be 

 exercised with judgment. Much useless effort has 

 been expended in the past by workers who were too 

 persevering, too optimistic, too slow to face the facts, 

 or who even refused to face the facts. A person with 

 these qualities properly balanced will know when to 

 persevere along a fixed line of endeavor and when to 

 persevere toward the same objective but by a new 

 route where results indicate that a change in plans is 

 necessary. 



Courage and self-confidence. — Scientific research re- 

 quires courage and self-confidence. These qualities 

 will prevent the investigator from being deterred from 

 entering new fields because they are new and particularly 

 because others may have failed in similar attempts. 

 Courage and self-confidence will enable a person who 

 possesses these qualities to form and hold liis own con- 

 clusions as long as facts justify doing so. He will 

 hold these conclusions even in the face of opposition 

 which is based on prejudice. He will also have the 

 courage to give up his opinions when facts no longer 

 justify their retention. 



Judgment. — Judgment has been defined as "the power 

 of arriving at a wise decision or conclusion on the basis 

 of indications and probabilities, when the facts are 

 not clearly ascertained." This meaning of the term 

 is here relevant. In technical work, some of the neces- 

 sary facts are usually understood and others are not. 

 A man of sound judgment will take both the known and 

 the unknown into consideration and will make a particu- 

 lar effort to include everything that may be important. 

 He will not waste his time on nonessentials. He will 

 also have a proper regard for the relationship between 

 the advantages and disadvantages which may result 

 respectively from a right or a wrong decision. The 

 ability to observe, associate, compare, and analyze 

 forms the very foundation of research work, whether 

 academic or industrial. 



Imagination and ingenuity. — These qualities form 

 the basis for the more creative tj'pes of research that 

 produce inventions relating to new products and new 

 processes. These result much more frequently from 



