Abstract
THE reference in the leading article in NATUH.B of January 28 to the report of the Association of Scientific Workers, and more particularly to the urgent need for more State assistance for fundamental research, receives further emphasis from a recent discussion by the British Chemical Plant Manufacturers Association, following an earlier meeting in May 1938. In the report above-mentioned it was specifically indicated that among the more urgent and important cases where State support is required is that of chemical engineering, notably in connexion with raw materials and unit operations. Although the discussions of the B.C.P.M.A. were at first intended to be limited to the question of closer collaboration between chemical manufacturers, chemical plant manufacturers and consultants, with the view of quoting for and providing complete process units, it soon became evident that the scope of debate would have to be extended to include co-operation on much wider grounds, including not only fundamental scientific research but also the economic question of meeting foreign competition effectively. It was not easy to come to any definite decision or formulate a constructive policy of basic research: this is a matter for further discussion between the main sections of the chemical industry and the Government. When one considers, however, the strenuous and for the most part successful efforts of recent years to place chemical engineering in Great Britain on a sounder basis, it is to be hoped that the matter will not be left where it is, in view of its supreme importance in regard to national well-being, export trade and defence.
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British Chemical Plant. Nature 143, 467 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143467a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143467a0