So6 RADFORD MATHER LECTURE 



Council, and OT\e of its earliest acts was to set on foot a scheme to encourage 

 our industries to co-operate with each other and create scientific research 

 organisations for the benefit directly of themselves and ultimately of the 

 nation as a whole. Although the Government contributed to the funds 

 of these organisations, called Research Associations, in proportion to the 

 amount subscribed by industry, the Associations were to be — and are — • 

 autonomous bodies controlled by their respective industries. Apart from 

 its interest in these co-operative organisations, the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research has directly under its control a number of labora- 

 tories which are prepared to consider problems submitted to them by 

 firms and to give assistance therein on the payment of fees for services 

 rendered. 



The stimulus thus given to industry and the information supplied have 

 been of the greatest national value, especially as regards international 

 markets ; and there can be no doubt that when the Government was 

 able to restore national credit and confidence, the work of the scientific 

 investigator played a great part in the national recovery, and, in conse- 

 quence, in placing thousands of workpeople in employment. This could 

 never have been done except on a foundation of an increased national 

 wealth and an improvement in national production. Much of that has 

 been due to the scientific worker. 



Standards of life have undoubtedly been raised and opportunities for 

 improving wages provided, whilst leisure has been extended and the 

 conditions under which people work, even in spite of some serious short- 

 comings, greatly improved. Human stress and strain has become a 

 consideration in work, and the adaptability of the individual to employ- 

 ment has greatly eased the discomforts and disappointments of the worker. 

 These tendencies have by no means exhausted themselves, and an en- 

 lightened determination to maintain the conditions of uninterrupted 

 consumption of products by increasing the share of the worker in the 

 augm.ented product will minimise the hardships of any slackening, at 

 present uncontrollable, in the market demands for production and labour. 

 Here I lean upon science to find out how that can be done. 



The needs dealt with by these scientific investigations cover an extra- 

 ordinarily wide field indicated with interesting clarity in the Annual 

 Reports of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, and its 

 organisations such as the National Physical Laboratory. From these it 

 is seen that organised research extends apace, and that the co-operation 

 between scientists and industrialists has become a well-marked feature in 

 our industrial life. Industry is no longer satisfied with sporadic consul- 

 tations with science. This has led, as the last Annual Report of the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research records, to a steady 

 improvement of the efficiency of our industry and the comforts of our 

 working staffs. 



I mention one or two other items showing the industrial activities of 

 the scientific worker. But first of all, I cannot help referring to the use 

 made of the William Froude Tank for testing shipping designs. No 

 separate item of work done by scientific experiment applied to industrial 

 needs has interested me more than the use made of this tank. I quote 

 from The National Physical Laboratory Report for 1931 (p. 290) : 



