THE EIGHTH CENSUS OF GRADUATE RESEARCH .STUDENTS IN CHEMISTRY, 1931 CALLLE 'XULL AND CLARENCE J. WEST
RESEARCH INFORMATION SERVICE. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, WASHINGTON, D. C. The Eighth Census of Graduate Research Students in Chemistry (covering the academic year 1931-32) continues the annual compilation which was first issued in 1924.* The present compilation includes returns from one hundred and forty-two universities, of which eighteen have reported members of the faculty only engaged in chemical research. It should be mentioned that in Table 11, while a column is given to the faculty, the numbers given there are not included in the totals, as those TABLE Il Number of Graduate Students Engaged in Research in Various Fields of Chemistry Su8jecccr
Tdol
General & Physical .... Colloid........ Catalysis.. .... Subatomic & Radio ....... E l e c t r o Inorganic.. E l e c t r o Organic.. ... Photochemistry & Photoera~hv. - - . ... Inorganic.. ... Analytical. .... Metallurgical.. Organic ....... Physiological.. Pharmacological ......... Pharmaceutical Sanitary.. .... Nutrition.. ... Food ......... Agricultural . . . Industrial & Engineering. Chemical Engineering.. ...
.
M
1931 D
F
577 248 329 245 101 43 58 51 52 23 29 17
1927
1926 1926 T o l d Total
1930 Tala1
1929 Told
1928 Told
Told
520 78 44
448 82 34
406 86 27
430 79 28
343
1924 Told
31
332 77 33
240 69 51
58
42
16
26
22
39
20
18
21
21
27
20
55
25
30
15
49
24
25
21
32
42
38
12
6
6
6
19
15
13
11
13
14
18
9 34 13 85 74 69 91 58 78 60 18 36 426 504 269 104 148 201
44 129 102 46 811 233
41 116 95 36 719 222
22 124 96 22 668 146
25 116 75 21 570 134
25 109 54 34 475 207
19 86 44 28 430 196
24 101 71 38 422 172
7 14 25
20 39 12 76 49 55
30 20 9 48 35 91 203
+ 43
159 149 78 930 252 13 54 29 126 32 126
9 25 14 66 13 61
4 29 15 60 19 65
30 25 14 78 16 79
16 34 16 78 34 108
14 27 27 80 31 91
11 16 30 52 52 111
58 27 89
14 21 11 51 37 72
84
48
36
35
63
91
156
183
274
184
347 224 123
91
301
285
..
..
..
....
-----------
... 3261 1596 1665 1392 2795 2498 2071 1934 1882 1763 1700 TOTALS..
* Z A N E ~Ind. I , Eng. Ckem.,16,402 (1924); NORRIS, ibid., 17, 755 (1925); WEST HULL.,J. CHEM.EDUC.,4, 909 (July, 1927); 5. 882 (July, 1928); 6, 1338 (JulyAug., 1929); 7, 1674 (July, 1930); 8, 1374 (July, 1931). 1472
AND
TABLE I Number of Graduate Students Engaged in Research in Chemistry According to UniversiQ and Subject "Mu indicates those working for a Master's degree, "D", Doctor's degree, and "F," number an faculty engaged in research rnolgonic
M 1
D
F
1
I
1 -
Mdallvreicol
Annlyliral
M
D
F
M 1
D
Orgaric M D F
F I
M !
Fhysiolagicol
D
phormacolosi~oi
F
M I
D
F I
Phormoce~firol M
D
F 1
Sanitary
M
D
F I
Foods M D F
Nulrifian M D F I
i
Agricuitwal
M 1
D
1 Irdustriol
F
M I
D
F
Chrmicol
Engineering M D E
VOL. 9, NO. 8
GRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS
1473
numbers refer to the graduate students only, and are comparable with the totals for previous years. The year 1931 shows a larger increase in the number of graduate students in the field of chemistry than any precedmg year; the increase being 466 over 1930. The next largest difference is the increase of 1929 over 1928, which was 427. This increase is undoubtedly due to business conditions existing a t the present time. Graduates of the regular B.S. course, finding themselves unable to secure industrial positions, have returned for advanced training rather than remain idle or take a non-professional job. It is hoped that this compilation' may be continued until data are available for ten years, a t which time an effort may be made to evaluate the statistics, and to interpret the trend in the various fields of chemistry as well as in the universities in which the research is being done. .
CAREERS FROM LEISURE Reprinted from the N m York E n , November 18, 1931 A chemist living in a suburb of New York made a hobby of photographing bugs and plants through a microscope for the amusement and instruetion of his six-year-old daughter. Friends who saw these pictures urged him t o seek a publisher for them. Recently the man last his job. He is now preparing abook of his nature photographs. which will be supplemented by a text simple enough t o interest children. Another unemployed chemist persuaded a manufacturer t o experiment with the commercial possibilities of colored brass and other metals. The business man is now aiding the chemist to carry an an investigation of this project a t Harvard University. These two stories come from the employment bureau of The Chemists' Club of New York, which recalls that in 1921 some of the chemists who found themselves out of work started in business independently and in many instances were more successfulthan their former employers. "This is Likely t o occur again. There are presidents, plant managers, and research workers who have been victims of the depression and who are now unemployed." Of many careers that may be born of the present slack period the world is not likely to hear the whole story. Unquestionably, however, 1ar.C~numbers of talented men never would achieve full measure of success were they t o drift along comfortably in their routine jobs. How many of those now looking for work, yet living well on accumulated savings, fully recognize the value of their enforced leisure? . So easily does a routine worker settle into a groove that in many cases only the loss of a job creates the opportunities from which fortunes grow. If enforced idleness arouses a man to turn his own ideas t o use, if it uncovers a latent inventive ability or enables him to perfect a lifelong hobby or an undeveloped talent, the career thus begun is likely to be richer in those intangible virtues money cannot buy than the material Ed., success which comes to such fortunate persons in more prosperous times.-Nms Ind. Eng. C h m .
. ..