Science & the State

Addressing a mixed audience of scientists and "fellow innocents in the field" in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, the President of the U.S. was reminded of a story. It seems there was a man who needed a hearing aid, found that they cost between $200 and $800, "decided to make one himself, which he did. And he worked it with pretty good effect. So finally a man said to him, 'Now tell me, Bill, does this thing really work?' He says: 'Of course not, but it makes everybody talk louder.' "

Ike's ad-lib story was principally intended as a lightener at a heavyweight symposium on basic scientific research. But it served to point up as serious a message as he has ever delivered. "In my public service," said he, "I have found myself increasingly involved with problems and policies affected by the growth* and impact of science and technology--[now] the cornerstones of American security and American welfare." In short, the day is at hand when U.S. science and the U.S. Government have firmly joined hands to plot the nation's future.

"Persistent Partnership." Since the "strength, growth and vitality of our science and engineering . . . hinge primarily upon the efforts of private individuals." said the President, "I derive special satisfaction from the fact that this conference is sponsored by private interests [the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Science]. The Federal Government, with its vast resources, could largely . . . blunt private initiative and individual opportunity. This we must never permit." Government's role: "a persistent partnership" with private institutions.

As science is necessary to the preservation of freedom, he pointed out, freedom is necessary to the overall advancement of science. "It is in this strong conviction that I particularly stress the freedom of the scholar and the researcher." On the other hand, the scientific specialist must "understand that his first responsibility to himself and to his country is to be a good citizen. Above all he must comprehend how his own work fits in effectively in promoting the national welfare."

Since World War II, he noted, scientists working in the U.S. have won more than half of the Nobel Prizes in the physical sciences. But there are still too few people at work on basic research (fewer than 30,000, or 4% of U.S. scientists and engineers). What can be done about it? "Regimented research would be, for us, catastrophe," said the President."We must search out the talented individual and cultivate in all American life a heightened appreciation of the importance of excellence and high standards . . . We must be willing to match our increasing investments in material resources with increasing investments in men." One concrete proposal: establishment of a hall of fame for the arts and sciences.

Two-Mile Machine. The President saved for the latter part of his speech the announcement of a headline-making "example which illustrates an appropriate way for the Federal Government to further our basic scientific research effort.'' He would recommend to Congress that the Federal Government finance "a large, new electron linear accelerator [i.e., atom smasher]" at Stanford University--"a machine two miles long, by far the largest ever built [see SCIENCE]. When I quote the cost." said he, with a glance toward his former Treasury Secretary down the table. "George Humphrey will hurt.'' The cost, over six years: $100 million. The hoped-for result: "valuable contributions to our understanding in a field in which the United States already is strong and in which we must maintain our progress.

"By such means," said the President, "the Government labors to advance our scientific knowledge and to further the free use of science for healing, for enriching life and freeing the spirit."

*Among developments of the past 18 months: the appointment of Massachusetts Institute of Technology President James R. Killian Jr. as Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency and the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Science and Astronautics. Also, in the wake of the Sputniks, the National Science Foundation's authorized funds were nearly tripled (to $136 million for fiscal 1959). Congress passed the National Defense Education Act subsidizing the teaching of science, the State Department reactivated its Office of Science Adviser and appointed science attaches to key U.S. embassies abroad.

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