Science and Public Policy: Agency Mission 43 



fruitfully with parallel research in computer technology. The 

 most widely used commercial oscilloscopes were developed 

 originally to fill the needs of nuclear physicists. 



A decade ago the increased use of scintillation counting led 

 physicists to press for the development of very sensitive photo- 

 multiplier tubes. They advised the government on develop- 

 mental contracts with industry to develop tubes specifically 

 tailored to the needs of nuclear physicists. Similar tubes now 

 find application as the most sensitive detectors of faint light 

 in many areas of military and civilian technology. 



It is doubtful whether any of these new technologies would 

 have been developed as rapidly or as economically by any other 

 means, because at the time the developments were started, the 

 need for them in other areas than nuclear physics could not 

 have been foreseen sufficiently clearly to provide the necessary 

 focus and incentive for the development effort. This is only 

 one of many examples of how the tools of basic research antici- 

 pate the needs of other more every-day technologies, and thus 

 serve as a stimulus to bring forth the art and science that be- 

 come available for other uses when the time is right. In my 

 opinion the military services ought to use this technique much 

 more frequently than they do, to cultivate the technologies that 

 are likely to be needed ten to fifteen years from now. 



Today nuclear physics and elementary particle physics are 

 challenging technology in new directions. One example is the 

 marriage of microwave technology with cryogenics to produce 

 higher efficiency microwave power components, an area in 

 which an ONR sponsored contractor is currently the leader. 

 Another example is the development of sophisticated data 

 processing techniques for "on-line" experimentation and "pat- 

 tern recognition" of bubble chamber and other particle detec- 

 tion patterns. Some of this work has been and still is ONR 

 supported, giving the Navy a "window" on new technologies 

 likely to be of profound significance for future military appli- 

 cations, but in ways not now clearly foreseeable. As the Navy's 

 fractional commitment to the national nuclear and high energy 



