SECTION VII 



1. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH 

 COUNCIL TO INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 



By Albert L. Barrows 

 Executive Secretary, National Research Council, Washington, D. C. 



Relationship to the National Academy of Sciences 



The National Academy of Sciences, of which the 

 National Research Council is an operating agency, is 

 a body of some 310 eminent scientific men of the 

 United States, organized in 1863 at the request of 

 President Lincoln, and chartered at that tune by Con- 

 gress to advise the Government in scientific and tech- 

 nical matters. Its charter, in part, reads as follows — 



. . . the Academy shall, whenever called upon by any depart- 

 ment of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and 

 report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of 

 such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports to 

 be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, 

 but the Academy shaU receive no compensation whatever for 

 any services to the Government of the United States. 



Since its establislmient the National Academy has 

 taken a place as a body of distinguished scientists of 

 the United States among the scientific societies of the 

 country. Its function, also, as scientific adviser to the 

 Government has been continued through response to 

 requests from tinie to time and this function has, in 

 fact, been much increased in recent years. 



When in 191G it became apparent that the United 

 States could hardly escape being drawn into the First 

 World War, the Academy made special tender of its 

 services to the Government, and at the request of 

 President Wilson organized, as a measure of national 

 preparedness, a special advisory body in the form of 

 a large committee, with a number of subcommittees, 

 to which was given the name of National Research 

 Coimcil. This Council was composed of scientific men 

 and engineers who were themselves associated with 

 educational and research institutions and industrial 

 corporations. The Council served the Federal Govern- 

 ment during the First World War in coordinating and 

 making available to the Government the research 

 resources of nongovenunental institutions and in bring- 

 ing these resources to bear upon urgent scientific prob- 

 lems of munitions, of military equipment, of public 

 health, of food and nutrition, and of other exigencies 

 of the emergency. During this time the Council acted 

 as the Department of Science and Research of the 

 CoimciJ of National Defense, and as the Scientific and 



Research Division of the Signal Corps of the Army. 

 The Council had numerous contacts, also, with the 

 Navy Department and with other governmental agen- 

 cies in connection with scientific war problems. 



Upon the close of the war the National Research 

 Council was perpetuated by the National Academy of 

 Sciences, again at the request of President Wilson, 

 expressed in an Executive Order (No. 2859, May 11, 

 1918). The contiiming purpose of the Council is — 



. . to promote research in the mathematical, physical, and 

 biological sciences, and in the application of these sciences to 

 engineering, agriculture, medicine, and other useful arts, with 

 the object of increasing knowledge, of strengthening the national 

 defense and of contributing in other ways to the public welfare, 

 as expressed in the Executive order of May 11, 1918 (Articles of 

 Organization, National Research Council, Article I). 



In order to carry out this purpose and to coordinate 

 the major organizations and institutions of the country 

 in the support of scientific research, the Council is 

 composed of representatives of about 85 national 

 scientific and technical societies. These society repre- 

 sentatives constitute the greater part of the member- 

 ship of the Council. In addition, many of the scientific 

 bureaus and agencies of the Federal Government are 

 also represented in the Council by Presidential designa- 

 tion, and a lunited number of members are chosen at 

 large. The total membership is about 220, including 

 many men from fields of engineermg and from industrial 

 research laboratories. This membership is grouped 

 into 9 divisions representing the major fields of science 

 and certain general interests of the Council in the 

 international relationships of science and in the educa- 

 tional aspects of research. Withm these divisions are 

 organized a large number of committees, the member- 

 ship of which brings about 1,150 additional persons 

 into active association with the Council. 



The National Research Council may be regarded, 

 therefore, as an operating agency of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, organized to assist the Academy 

 in carrying out its prescribed functions and to relate 

 the Academy to many other scientific and technical 

 agencies of the country for the purpose of advancing 

 scientific research ua the United States. For these 



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