44 Research and National Purpose 



physics program has decreased over the years to less than 7%, 

 it must be more and more selective in its support of this area, 

 but it seems doubtful whether its participation could drop 

 much lower than at present and still afford it a meaningful 

 window on the field. 



The current conventional wisdom has it that nuclear and 

 elementary particle physics are "useless" subjects, worthy of 

 support, if at all, only for their "cultural" value. This is why I 

 deliberately chose the Navy's nuclear physics program as an 

 illustration of the value of a listening post commitment to a 

 few of the most vital frontiers of advancing science. This is not 

 an argument for indiscriminate support of any basic science on 

 the part of mission oriented agencies. What I have tried to 

 emphasize is that the ecology of the scientific effort is far more 

 complex than the naive connections one can make between 

 pure science and applications before the fact. These connec- 

 tions are often not direct but proceed through many layers of 

 neighboring sciences and instrumental and industrial technol- 

 ogy. While I am all for projects like "Hindsight" which attempt 

 to trace the origins of modern weapons systems, I would warn 

 that such efforts are very likely to lose the trail just at the most 

 interesting point when it disappears into the general scientific 

 background and sophistication of the times. 



As one reviews the history of American science and technol- 

 ogy in the last twenty years, one cannot fail but be struck by 

 the strategic role which ONR-sponsored work has played. In 

 fact, when one considers its present tiny fiscal role in research 

 support compared with what it was in the early days, one is 

 surprised at its still major importance and influence. Wherever 

 the most important advances are being made, one still seems 

 to find ONR present with at least token support. A mere 

 catalogue of areas in which ONR-sponsored scientists have 

 pioneered shows how frequently ONR has been there with the 

 right science at the right time even though few foresaw the 

 usefulness and relevance when ONR first began to sponsor it. 

 Let me merely list a few examples: 



