[Reprinted from SCIENCE, N. S. , Vol. XLIV. , 

 11S7, Pages 511-518, October IS, 1916} 



THE RELATION OF PURE SCIENCE TO 

 INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 1 



IT is not strange that many years ago 

 Huxley, with his remarkable precision of 

 thought and his admirable command of 

 language, should have indicated his dis- 

 satisfaction with the terms "pure science" 

 and "applied science," pointing out at the 

 same time that what people call "applied 

 science" is nothing but the application of 

 pure science to particular classes of prob- 

 lems. The terms are still employed, pos- 

 sibly because, after all, they may be the 

 best ones to use, or perhaps our ideas, to 

 which these expressions are supposed to 

 conform, have not yet become sufficiently 

 definite to have called forth the right words. 



It is not the purpose of this address, how- 

 ever, to suggest better words or expres- 

 sions, but rather to direct attention to cer- 

 tain important relations between purely 

 scientific research and industrial scientific 

 research which are not yet sufficiently 

 understood. 



Because of the stupendous upheaval of 

 the European war with its. startling 

 agencies of destruction the product of 

 both science and the industries and be- 

 cause of the deplorable unpreparedness of 

 our own country to defend itself against 



i President's address given at the thirty-third 

 annual convention of the American Institute of 

 Electrical Engineers. 



