SECTION VI 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN 



BORDER-LINE FIELDS 



By Caryl P. Haskins 

 President, Haskins Laboratories, Inc., New York, N. Y. 



ABSTRACT 



The significance of research and development along 

 the frontiers of industrial research represented by the 

 border lines between sciences is considered. An account 

 is given of some recent industrial developments in bio- 

 chemistry, biophysics, geology, geochemistry, geophys- 



ics, rheology, and mineralogy. Consideration is given 

 to the place of these border-line sciences in the modern 

 industrial picture and to the educational facilities avail- 

 able for workers who may contemplate entering them. 



Introduction 



The history of scientific research demonstrates very 

 clearly that, in popidar scientific usage, the term 

 "border-line research" has been widely taken to signify, 

 in fact "embryo scientific field." In every epoch there 

 has been a considerable number of real and exception- 

 allj' able pioneers who have undertaken the large task 

 of training themselves in the region of the borderland 

 between two sciences, so that that gap might be healed 

 over, usually long after the structures on both sides had 

 been solidly fonned. It took great ability and great 

 courage for men to do this. As in any other field of 

 pioneermg, exceptionally broad ability, flexibility of 

 outlook, and the capability of unitmg effort under con- 

 ditions often confusing and discouragmg, were required. 



American scientific thought of today surely is based 

 on broader concepts than ever before. Concomitant 

 with this condition, the status of the border-line science 

 worker among the majority of his feUows has been 

 radically altered. Within so short a period as the last 

 10 years, the methods of work of the border-line scien- 

 tist have received recognition to a very marked degree. 



The extraordinarily rapid development of the con- 

 ventional sciences in recent years has resulted in their 

 approach on many fronts, and has created a large num- 

 ber of new border lines which hitherto went unsuspected. 

 This fact, and its general recognition, are gradually 

 bringing pressure to bear on our educational system to 

 design standardized courses that will aid the border-line 

 men in acquiring the training which they so sorely need. 

 Research in border lines has already attained consider- 

 able recognition, and its position will unquestionably 

 become additionally secure with the passage of time. 



Work in border-line sciences, however, is rapidly 

 increasing in difficulty as investigation of the more 



superficial fields is completed. Individual men are 

 being called upon to possess a more and more extensive 

 and specialized knowledge of each of the fields in which 

 they have chosen to work. The ideal worker in a 

 given border fine should possess as extensive experience 

 and information in each of the sciences which his work 

 touches as the most specialized workers in those pure 

 fields. The human limitation for the individual, except 

 for the very rare and outstanding genius of universal 

 capabilities, is very obvious. 



The evident, though as yet scarcely explored, solution, 

 is the very closely integrated border line group, made 

 up of highly trained specialists in each of the sciences 

 along the edges of which the group plans to work, who, 

 while thoroughly and possibly somewhat myopically 

 competent in knowledge of their fields, are yet so closely 

 knit to one another that the organization as a whole 

 functions as a unit, as a superorganism, as it were, 

 with powers far greater than would be the sum of those 

 of its individual components. The formation and 

 operation of such groups require special conditions and 

 the task is not easy — the very hardest part, like that of 

 building a ship, being the attainment of the condition 

 in which each component of the structure ceases to be 

 an individual unit and becomes a part of the whole. 

 Difficult though it may be, this development represents 

 one of the most important modern trends in scientific 

 research. Attempts to achieve the ideal condition are 

 being made in several parts of the United States and 

 abroad, with varying, but on the whole encouraging, 

 success. 



As always in our modern social structure, the ten- 

 dencies that have become so markedly evident in pure 

 scientific research have been closely paralleled in research 

 in industry. Industries which are primarily dependent 



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