UNIVERSITY RESEARCH IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES L. M. DENNIS,CORNELL UNIVERSITY. ITHACA, NEWYO=
During the first term of the present university year, the Society of Sigma X i at Coruell University sponsored a series of ten-minute radio talks for the general public by members of the Departments of Physics and Chemistry upon research lying in their several fields. The writer was requested to close the series with a ten-minute discussion qf the general subject of university research, and in his remnrks, which are given below, he illustrated for'the layman the value of university research as contrasted with the investigation of practical problems, and he emphasized the importance of carefully training the student in the technic of experimentation, and of schooling him correctly to evaluete the evidence that his experiments seem to furnish, and of refraining from public announcement of his results until he has convinced himself that they are accurate and conclusive.
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There is nothing mysterious or unusual about this field of activity, for all of us are born investigators. Every baby, from the moment he begins to creep, starts delving into the mysteries of the unknown, and subjecting everything about him to the tests of his experimental apparatus, his senses. He knocks his head against the leg of a table or pulls the tail of the cat, and thus trains his sense of feeling. He hammers on a tin pan and develops his sense of hearing, and strains that of others. Every object that is not too large he puts into his mouth and exercises his sense of taste. As he gains in years, his accumulated experience enables him to make more thorough his researches into the unknown, and while the small boy's activities are often of a destructive character, they still serve to widen his information and to develop his power of observation. If he is a healthy, alert lad he is continually putting the questions "Why?" and 'What?" to the world about him. I t is this same spirit, this all-consuming curiosity, this irrepressible desire to extend his knowledge of material things and of the forces that affect them, that carry forward and inspire the mature investigator in the experimental sciences of physics and chemistry. One occasionally hears the criticism that university research in physics and chemistry is "high-brow stuff," a misuse of time and energy, and that the investigators ought to concentrate their efforts upon problems of a practical nature. In reply it can be said that the study of practical questions, while i t may lead, and has led, to very useful results, rarely opens up new fields of knowledge. The university investigator, quietly, patiently, and perseveringly pursuing his search for the truth for the truth's sake, and with but little thought of possible useful application of his discoveries, has given us by far the greater number of our epochmaking advances in scientific achievement. 1341
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A classic illustration of the extremely important results that may come from university research in pure as distinguished from practical chemistry is furnished by a discovery made by Professor Wohler in 1828. Up to that time it had been thought that the many chemical compounds which are formed in plant and animal bodies need for their production a so-called vital force, and that they could never be made in the laboratory from inorganic, mineral substances. Wohler found that urea, a typical secretion of the animal organism, could be prepared from familiar inorganic chemicals, and university research thus opened the way to the tremendous development of synthetic organic chemistry which has given to the world thousands of new compounds, not only such as are of industrial importance, but also many valuable remedies for the diseases that afflict us. I t has also made possible the preparation in the laboratory, from that most unattractive substance cod-tar, the hundreds of beautiful dyes and pleasing perfumes that contribute so greatly to our esthetic enjoyment. Professor Baeyer of the University of Munich camed out, about half a century ago, prolonged laboratory study of the composition of indigo, that familiar and valuable blue dye which was a t that time obtained exclusively from the indigo plant in India. His researches paved the way for the production in the laboratory of indigo from familiar chemical substances, and as a result about 1,500,000 acres of land in India were released for the growing of other crops, and the world is now supplied with synthetic indigo much purer and more uniform in composition than that from the natural plant. Lord Rayleigh took up the experimental study of the density of the gas nitrogen which is the chief constituent of the air. The most vivid imagination could not have suggested a result of any practical importance from such an investigation. But he found that nitrogen from the air is slightly heavier than nitrogen from chemical compounds of that element, and his experiments were of such extreme accuracy that he was sure that the difference could not be due to errors in his measurements. The subject was then investigated by the chemist Ramsay, who, in a series of brilliant researches, found, to the astonishment of the scientific world, that atmospheric air contains five inert gases whose existence had never been suspected. One of these gases is helium, the now familiar gas with which o w airships are filled because it will not bum, which thus removes the possibility of such a terrible accident as that which recently occurred to the English airship R-101 in France, the great loss of life there being due to the burning of the combustible gas hydrogen, with which the airship was filled. These three achievements (and many more, by both foreign and American investigators, could be added to them), give us a clear understanding of the importance and usefulness of the results that may follow from
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accurate and conclusive university research that is undertaken without thought of practical application. Today the problems that confront us in physics and chemistry are usually more complex than formerly, and their study calls for more refined methods, more delicate and accurate apparatus, more elaborate equipment, and better laboratories than were required by the early workers in these fields. But the scientist of the present day has a t his disposal such a variety of experimental attacks, so many novel methods of prying into the mysteries of the unknown, that discovery and the application of what has been discovered have carried us, in the last thirty-five years, far beyond even the dreams of our predecessors. To prepare young men and young women for careers as investigators, it is the function and opportunity of the university to offer courses of instruction which will give them fundamental information concerning their own special field of study and allied branches of knowledge. The university should also strive to develop in its students a scientific habit of thought, and sound and accurate judgment, which are of such supreme importance in achieving what should be, after all, the chief objective of the university-the preparation of young men and young women for enlightened and useful citizenship. In the special preparation for research, the university should first of all carefully train the student in the technic of experimentation, for a lack of manipulative skill will lead, and frequently has led, both young and mature investigators to inconclusive and misleading results, and sadly erroneous conclusions. The student must further be schooled in accurately weighing the evidence that his experiments seem to furnish, and to subject this evidence to rigid and thorough tests before announcing his findings. Hand in hand with experimental ability should walk imagination. sometimes leading the experimenter, sometimes aroused and guided by the laboratory results. Speculation occasionally opens the way to very important advances in science, but the advance itself rests on convincing confirmatory experiments. Statements appear a t times in the newspapers or scientific journals describing a spectacular discovery. These statements are only too often merely guesses which are given out in the form of definite conclusions, although they have no support except one or two incouclusive or poorly performed experiments. While a startling guess of this character may impress the uninformed, and give to the guesser a cheap and transient notoriety, it misleads the public, brings sound investigation into disrepute, and those who are acquainted with the subject can clearly see that although such a guess may make a big noise when first shot off, it was fired from a gun of small caliber. Research in chemistry really got into its stride not much more than a
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century ago. At that time, new discoveries were easy, for careful experiments with simple apparatus would almost always add something of value to the then scanty knowledge of the science. Today, after more than one hundred years of progress, experimental research, if it is to be really successful, needs much better equipment than was required by the early workers in the field. The old stage-coach has been succeeded by the complicated locomotive. It is clear, therefore, that progress in university research in the experimental sciences calls for abundant financial support, and if this is forthcoming, the resulting benefits to our people, in the development of new industries and the improvement and expansion of old ones, in the cure and avoidance of disease and the alleviation of suffering, in the extension of the comforts and conveniences for our daily life, will repay this support a thousand-fold.
