Abstract
THE Rhodes Scholarships statement for 1936-37 shows a distribution of the 185 scholars (93 from the British Empire overseas, 86 from the United States and 6 from Germany), as follows: natural science 56, philosophy, politics and economics ('Modern Greats') 36, law 29, modern history 17, English 14, Litt. Hum. 10, economics 8, mathematics 6, modern languages 3, geography, education and colonial service probationers 2 each. The particulars given of distinctions achieved by former Rhodes scholars are interesting for the light they throw on the question how far the founder's objects are being realized. Every one of the fourteen Americans is described as holding an important position (such as head of, or professor in, a university or college, or member of congress) in America, which accords well with the words in Rhodes's will: “without, I hope, withdrawing them or their sympathies from the land of their adoption or birth”. As regards the British Empire (the retention of the unity of which was one of the declared objects of the scholarships) noteworthy appointments mentioned are those of governor of the Canadian Broadcasting Company, solicitor to the Treasury, Ottawa, chancellor of the University of Sydney, director of education, Victoria, director of the Institute of Pathology, Sydney, and Numeld professor of surgery, Oxford. One of the Germans is professor of economics and political science, University of Heidelberg, and another president of the Academy of Sciences, Munich. “The object”, says the will, of the German scholarships, “is that an understanding between the three Great Powers will render war impossible and educational relations make the strongest tie”.
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The Rhodes Scholarships. Nature 142, 285 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142285b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142285b0