NDRC FOREWORD 



As EVENTS of the years preceding 1940 revealed 

 more and more clearly the seriousness of the 

 world situation, many scientists in this country came 

 to realize the need of organizing scientific research for 

 service in a national emergency. Recommendations 

 which they made to the White House were given care- 

 ful and sympathetic attention, and as a result the 

 National Defense Research Committee [NDRC] was 

 formed by Executive Order of the President in the 

 summer of 1940. The members of NDRC, appointed 

 by the President, were instructed to supplement the 

 work of the Army and the Navy in the development 

 of the instrumentalities of war. A year later, upon 

 the establishment of the Office of Scientific Research 

 and Development [OSRD], NDRC became one of 

 its units. 



The Summary Technical Report of NDRC is a 

 conscientious effort on the part of NDRC to sum- 

 marize and evaluate its work and to present it in a 

 useful and permanent form. It comprises some 

 seventy volumes broken into groups corresponding 

 to the NDRC Divisions, Panels, and Committees. 



The Summary Technical Report of each Division, 

 Panel, or Committee is an integral survey of the work 

 of that group. The first volume of each group's re- 

 port contains a summary of the report, stating the 

 problems presented and the philosophy of attacking 

 them and sunmiarizing the results of the research, de- 

 velopment, and training activities undertaken. Some 

 volumes may be "state of the art" treatises covering 

 subjects to which various research groups have con- 

 tributed information. Others may contain descrip- 

 tions of devices developed in the laboratories. A 

 master index of all these divisional, panel, and com- 

 mittee reports which together constitute the Sum- 

 mary Technical Report of NDRC is contained in a 

 separate volume, which also includes the index of a 

 microfilm record of pertinent technical laboratory 

 reports and reference material. 



Some of the NDRC-sponsored researches which 

 had been declassified by the end of 1945 were of 

 sufficient popular interest that it was found desirable 

 to report them in the form of monographs, such as 

 the series on radar by Division 14 and the monograph 

 on sampling inspection by the Applied Mathematics 

 Panel. Since the material treated in them is not dupli- 



cated in the Summary Technical Report of NDRC, 

 the monographs are an important part of the story 

 of these aspects of NDRC research. 



In contrast to the information on radar, which is 

 of widespread interest and much of which is released 

 to the public, the research on subsurface warfare is 

 largely classified and is of general interest to a more 

 restricted group. As a consequence, the report of 

 Division 6 is found almost entirely in its Summary 

 Technical Report, which runs to over twenty volumes. 

 The extent of the work of a Division cannot therefore 

 be judged solely by the number of volumes devoted 

 to it in the Summary Technical Report of NDRC: 

 account must be taken of the monographs and avail- 

 able reports published elsewhere. 



Any great cooperative endeavor must stand or fall 

 with the will and integrity of the men engaged in it. 

 This fact held true for NDRC from its inception, and 

 for Division 6 under the leadership of Dr. John T. 

 Tate. To Dr. Tate and the men who worked with 

 him — some as members of Division 6, some as 

 representatives of the Division's contractors — be- 

 longs the sincere gratitude of the Nation for a diffi- 

 cult and often dangerous job well done. Their efforts 

 contributed significantly to the outcome of our naval 

 operations during the war and richly deserved the 

 warm response they received from the Navy. In ad- 

 dition, their contributions to the knowledge of the 

 ocean and to the art of oceanographic research will 

 assuredly speed peacetime investigations in this field 

 and bring rich benefits to all mankind. 



The Summary Technical Report of Division 6, 

 prepared under the direction of the Division Chief 

 and authorized by him for publication, not only 

 presents the methods and results of widely varied re- 

 search and development programs but is essentially a 

 record of the unstinted loyal cooperation of able men 

 Hnked in a common effort to contribute to the defense 

 of their Nation. To them all we extend our deep 

 appreciation. 



Vannevar Bush, Director 

 Office of Scientific Research and Development 



J. B. CoNANT, Chairman 

 National Defense Research Committee 



