Abstract
IN his report for 1933, the president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington has directed attention to the difficulties which beset scientific research during periods of political uncertainty and retrenchment. “Periods of emergency give rise to shifting conditions which may tend to press toward extinction of research and research institutions through financial weakening, and because of emphasis on what may be considered essentials of life.” But on the other hand, emergencies present tests of adequacy in research as a method and of the human value of specific ideas for the origin of which it is responsible. The president says it is difficult to visualise a situation in which we could retreat from the present position. “The needs of civilisation can never be met by a static condition in which the generations merely settle down to life at a particular level. One can assume that through coming ages the requirement for increased knowledge with new ideas and their bettered application will grow. Unusual constructive ability arising out of what is known as the scientific interpretation will have an increasingly important part in development and organization of society. The investigation process, both as a means of securing ideas and as a method for learning their application, will naturally and properly take its place as one of the most nearly indispensable of all activities upon which the future well-being of mankind depends.”
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Scientific Research in U.S.A.. Nature 136, 430 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136430a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136430a0