Edwin Bidwell Wilson Award 23 



transportation as might be required, no matter how inconven- 

 ient the mode or the hour, undeterred by the vicissitudes of 

 weather, and but rarely prevented by minor indisposition, in 

 order to breathe confidence and inspiration into one genera- 

 tion after another of scientists who were learning what it felt 

 like to do research under the sponsoring aegis of the Federal 

 Government. Let us hope that his service to science and the 

 government gave to him as much as he gave to it. It is indeed 

 fitting that this award, which marks an important new turn in 

 the recognition of the role of the career scientist in govern- 

 ment, is named after him. 



And now we turn to the man who will be the first to receive 

 this honor. An examination of his career shows that he special- 

 izes in "firsts." Indeed, two of the major Federal organizations 

 that carry forward the work of the Federal government in 

 support of science came into being under his leadership. I 

 am speaking, of course, of the first Chief Scientist and Deputy 

 Chief of Naval Research and the first Director of the National 

 Science Foundation. Among his many honors is the Robert 

 Dexter Conrad award, which, I am told, is sometimes called 

 the Navy's Nobel prize and of which he is also the first recip- 

 ient, the award having been instituted on the occasion of the 

 tenth anniversary of the Office of Naval Research and since 

 shared by some of his most distinguished colleagues. His 

 achievements and his character are known to you in such 

 detail that any further eulogy here would be superfluous. I 

 know that all of you agree with me that the National Academy 

 of Sciences could have made no better choice for the E. B. 

 Wilson Award than Alan T. Waterman. 



I should like to close by saying that in the two decades of 

 ONR's short history, government and science have entered 

 into a cooperative relationship that can only become increas- 

 ingly important for the future of both. It is important that 

 the working machinery in which this relationship finds its ex- 

 pression be tough and resilient, and thus that Federal career 

 scientists, who are charged with building and maintaining this 

 machinery, have the competence and the support that are 



