Industrial Research 



327 



standard and a wide circulation in electrical-engineering 

 circles. In such ways, among others, information from 

 the laboratories has come to be both promptly and 

 widely disseminated. As a consequence, the industrial 

 research laboratories have become in America among 

 the most important distributors to the public at large 

 of knowledge of sciences and their applications. 



There is a sequence leading tlirough problems of 

 industrial research which it is needful to keep in mind 

 because it consumes time. For illustration, Michael 

 Faraday, besides many other great achievements, in 

 the first third of the nineteenth century thought out and 

 experimentally demonstrated the phenomena of electro- 

 magnetic induction and also outlined the conception of 

 fields of force and lines of force. Maxwell thereafter syn- 

 thesized such ideas by means of powerful mathematical 

 treatment, thereby formulating the idea of electro- 

 magnetic waves in space. Hertz experimentally proved 

 the truth of Maxwell's predictions regarding electric 

 waves and provided means for producing and for 

 detecting such waves in a range of wave lengths. The 

 way was then open for the inventor, Marconi, to carry 

 forward, and wireless communication of intelligence 

 sprang into being as the child of his labors. This con- 

 tinuous sequence of events occupied over a centmy of 

 active reflection and research for bringing modern 

 radio broadcasting to fruition. Industrial research, 

 such as that of Marconi and his associates and succes- 

 sors, means seeking, seeking, seeking for results on the 

 basis of knowledge already abroad and fortified by 

 additional knowledge which the effort of seeking may 

 disclose. The latter, as a byproduct, often gives a lead 

 into additional threads of useful research and ap- 

 plications. 



Such is the character of time-consuming sequences 

 that usually precede the great inventions from which 

 influential industries arise, and industrial research must 



be maintained in the broad field extending from touch 

 with basic discoveries in science to the final great 

 and small inventions. A notable contribution to the 

 speedy application of new knowledge to serviceable 

 purposes is one of the characteristics of the industrial 

 research laboratories, which promptly seize on each 

 new discovery in science for the purpose of examining 

 into its possible aid to human comfort and convenience. 

 The length of period between original discovery and 

 useful application is shortened by the processes of the 

 industrial research laboratories. 



In all of these industrial aspects in the electrical-en- 

 gineering field, it is those trained in the basic features 

 of the sciences and economics pertaining to the field, 

 i. e., the electrical engineers, who are needed for leader- 

 ship ; and around them are gathered groups of men and 

 women who are specialists hi the various sciences. These 

 groups are themselves a national asset when wisely 

 guided, because they disclose the foundations of new in- 

 dustries and of improvements to old industries from 

 which are secured wider opportunities for employment of 

 many citizens and additional comfort, convenience, and 

 security for the citizenship at large. Electrical engi- 

 neering, including all of its power branches and its 

 associated branches of illumination and communica- 

 tions, is a relatively new art. Revolutionary advances 

 which have arisen within the field to the benefit of 

 mankind are within the memory of mature adults, and 

 hardly more than a beginning has been made. Indus- 

 trial research in the field, guided by competently expe- 

 rienced electrical engineers, and liberally encouraged, 

 therefore must be mentioned among the important 

 national resources of the United States. Its further 

 expansion may be supported with assurance of value 

 to be returned to the national economy and of service 

 contributed to welfare in our national life. 



