iL tie rai cal
-tngineering, F^ews
WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor
Government in Research A HE National Research Council of the National Acad emy of Sciences has declined to administer the Atomic Energy Commission's nonclassified predoctoral fellow ship program. The refusal was due to Congressional requirements of FBI investigation and AEC clearance. This action once again emphasizes the need for a re valuation and redirection of government-sponsored research. As scientists, we recognize the need for extensive research if the new field of atomic science is to progress. W e also realize that most of the AEC's applied re search must be kept secret. For that reason we agree in principle with laws passed by Congress requiring loyalty oaths, non-Communist affidavits, investigation bv the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and security clearance by the AEC for personnel engaged in this type of research. However, much of the AEC's basic research, which is nonclassified, falls into an entirely different category. This basic research, although es sential, has a limited potential value from a military standpoint and need not be kept secret. To the average citizen the words Atomic Energy Commission bring visions of highly secret work in a most complex field. He cannot be expected to differ entiate between classified and nonclassified research and still less to appreciate the differences between basic and applied research. Therefore, to his mind, any activ ity of the AEC, including its fellowship program, naturally deals with some aspect of this secret work. Congress, as an instrument of the people, reflects these views. Carroll L. Wilson, general manager of the AEC, in a letter to the National Academy of Sciences, stated that while the AEC felt that it was proper for execu tive agencies such as the AEC to sponsor scientific research fellowships, it was felt that some other agency such as the academy could best administer them. W e would carry this idea further and suggest that all nonclassified federally sponsored research b e ad ministered directly by some qualified agency such as the National Academy of Sciences. Government agen cies responsible for classified research could then b e free to handle this research in any manner deemed advisable, whether in government laboratories, by con tracts with private organizations, or through an agency like the academy. Essential secrecy requirements could be imposed. In appropriating funds for such a designated research agency, Congress could stipulate that requests for research by agencies engaged i n de fense work be given preferred attention. The National Academy of Sciences was established by Congress in 1863. Its federal charter specifies that ". . .The academy shall, whenever called upon b y any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of such investigations, exaroina-
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tions, experiments, and reports to be paid from appro priations which may be made for the purpose, but the academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States." The academy is supported primarily b y income from a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. It conducts or administers research projects and fellowships with funds granted by government agencies, industry, edu cational and other nonprofit institutions, particularly the Rockefeller Foundation. The academy's National Research Council, organized in 1916 at the request of President Wilson as a measure of national preparedness, was peq>etuated by an executive order in 1918. This group handles the academy's research and fellowship programs. We look with favor on suggestions that the Congress consider expanding the activities of the academy to carry out the work proposed for the national science foundation. The academy has been in existence al most 100 years, has the support and backing of the great majority of scientists in the country, and has a limited but well organized staff to handle such a pro gram. We reiterate that the time has come for the Congress to take a good, hard look at the Government's research programs, one of the most important of which is that of the AEC. A separation of classified and nonclassi fied research seems in order to remove the need for the burdensome and unpalatable security requirements where secrecy is not called for.
Congratulations The ACS Division of Chemical Literature has issued Volume I, Number 1 of Chemical Literature, a fivepage informal news bulletin which it plans to issue four times a year—probably before each national meeting of the Society and at appropriate intervals thereafter. The bulletin will be available for regular distribution only to members and associates of the Division of Chemical Literature. The present plan is to restrict the scope of the bulletin to the news of the division, related happenings, and abstracts of the literature on chemical documentation. The editorial staff includes: editor, Β. Η. Weil; associate editor, J. W . Perry; and staff contributors, Mary Alexander, M. P. Doss, Frances Jenkins, A. B. Johnson, and Julian Smith. The first issue covers plans for the division's pro gram at the spring meeting as well as the Chicago meeting and for future programs. Practically two pages are given over to an annotated bibliography on chemi cal documentation. This is a worth-while project, and our best wishes are extended to the division and the editorial staff of the bulletin for launching this enterprise, for the splendjd appearance of the first issue, and for the continued success of the publication.
