202 



National Resources Planning Board 



equipment, raw materials, and labor. Dclaj's in de- 

 livery of equipment arc common. The time required 

 to complete new projects is said to be about twice the 

 normal. The very insistance upon use of domestic 

 raw materials has delayed completion of some projects 

 by several years because of the necessity of research on 

 the use of prescribed materials. An example of such 

 delay is production of the cobalt catalyst required for 

 the Fischer-Tropf coal hydrogenation process. 



Scientific and Technical Societies 

 and Publications 



A statement on research in Germany should not 

 omit mention of the important role which licr scientific 

 societies and publications have played in the dissemina- 

 tion of scientific and technical information. The 

 societies have assisted materially in dissipating the 

 secrecy which formerly surrounded so much of German 

 research. The leading chemical society, Deutsche 

 Chemische Gesellschaft, is comparable to our own 

 American Chemical Society. The meetings of local 



«f' 



organizations of regional universities and institutes of 

 technology have served a very useful purpose. These 

 semiannual meetings of young men in university facul- 

 ties (Privat Dozenten Sitzungen) afford opportunities 

 for the younger researchers to present papers covering 

 their work to their colleagues and heads of departments. 

 The discussions serve to stimulate and guide the men 

 in further research. The meetings serve as recruiting 

 giounds for the advancement of worthwhile men. 

 Such a plan might well be considered for adoption in 

 the United States. 



The symposium plan by which a few leading scien- 

 tists or technologists are invited to address gatherings, 

 and at which discussion and interchange of ideas are 

 freely engaged in, has been successful in Germany and 

 to some extent in England and other European coun- 

 tries. By this means university and industrial re- 

 searchers in both fundamental and applied fields are 

 brought more intimately into contact than is possible, 

 for example, at the large meetings of some of the 

 professional and technical societies in the United States. 



Figure 59.- 



Ptioto. Grrman LtbTw 

 -Bacteriological Analyses by Students, Institute of Kesearcli, Berlin, Germany 



