Science and Public Policy: The Open World 73 



When I contrast the state of science 

 Some Major today with what it was like twenty- 



Organizational Changes five years ago, several big changes in 

 in the Past the way we conduct our affairs stand 



Twenty-Five Years out. First, we are much more or- 



ganized. Those of us who started 

 our scientific careers before the Second World War can appre- 

 ciate this fact only too readily. Second, much more research 

 and development is now carried out by teams of research 

 workers, sometimes big teams, rather than by individuals, 

 than was ever the case before. Third, though we borrow each 

 other's techniques we have also tended to become more special- 

 ized, with an efflorescence of new journals. And, fourth, tech- 

 nological developments have not only made more science 

 possible, but, on average, very much more expensive per re- 

 search workers employed — particularly in the field of defense 

 science. For example, there can be no area of science in which 

 computers have not made it possible to undertake researches 

 which could never have been dreamt of before. But, compared 

 to the kind of equipment the scientists enjoyed in the thir- 

 ties, computers cost big money. So do radio-telescopes and 

 particle accelerators and space vehicles. 



An immediate consequence of all this is that however consider- 

 able, in terms of actual money, the resources that are now made 

 available to scientists — pure and applied — their allocation calls 

 increasingly for agreement about priorities. How is this to be 

 done? Demands on the interests of scientists are fast outrun- 

 ning their numbers. The interests of scientists are growing 

 all the time. How can one conceive of a conscious balance of 

 effort over the whole field of science when the latter is always 

 changing, or again when so large an amount of the money 

 that is made available for research and development comes 

 from Defense budgets, and when a great deal of the work 

 which is carried out by scientists is shrouded in secrecy? 



