The Genius of Industrial Research

Abstract

IN the ever growing literature dealing with industrial research ,Comparatively little attention has been given to the mental characteristics needed for research work and whether the training given at universities and technical colleges tends to develop adequately these qualities. In "Glances at Industrial Research", E.R. Weidlein and W. A. Hamor look beyond the of the wallss of the Mellon Institute to the broader professional aspects of industrial research. These problems are briefly considered by Dr. D. W. Hill in "Co-operative Industrial Research" ; but were virtually ignored by Sir Frank Heath and A. L. Hetherington in "Industrial Research and Development". A more adequate discussion is to be found in "The Future of Industrial Research", issued four years ago by the Standard Oil Development Co. ; but apart from highly suggestive passages in Col. L. E. Simon's "German Research in World War II", it is to the scientific and technical periodicals that we must look for the more penetrating discussions of the qualities required in industrial research and the methods by which they are best fostered. Some of the post-war reports, like Dr. Vannevar Bush's "Science-the Endless Frontier" and that of the Barlow Committee on Scientific Staff, or statements from Nuffield College, have made some contribution ; but by and large the most useful and fundamental contributions are widely scattered and probably not easily assembled.

The Genius of Industrial Research

By D. H. Killeffer. Pp. ix+263. (New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1948. ) 27s. net.