Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959

1959
The weather modification program is handled as part of the Atmos-
pheric Sciences research support program
It was established under. Public Law 85-5 10

[PDF]Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation

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National Science Foundation

The weather modification program is handled as part of the Atmos- pheric Sciences research support program. It was established under. Public Law 85-5 10, …

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National Science Foundation

The weather modification program is handled as part of the Atmos- pheric Sciences research support program. It was established under. Public Law 85-5 10, …

Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Program Activities

OF the

National Science Foundation

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SUPPORT OF BASIC RESEARCH IN THE SCIENCES

Research Programs

In fiscal year 1959, support for basic research programs increased

two and a half times from approximately $25 million in 1958 to almost

$65 million. Responsibility for these Foundation programs lies with

the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences; the Division of Math-

ematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences; the Office of Social

Sciences; and, in the case of Antarctic research, with the Office of

Special International Programs. Projects described here in brief are to

be considered illustrative of the research being supported.

DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

Current Research Support

The Developmental Biology program supported projects on the

structure and physiology of reproductive organs; the physiology of repro-

ductive cells and fertilization; the mechanism of cell division; descrip-

tive embryology (plant and animal) ; plant morphogenesis (apical activ-

ity of roots and shoots, stem elongation, genesis and control of plant

form) ; chemistry of development (molecular basis of differentiation,

metabolic patterns during development, chemical induction of new

structures, and growth-stimulating substances) ; regeneration of lost

parts; development genetics (analysis of mutant gene effects in develop-

ment) ; tissue and organ culture (plant and animal) ; histology; cyto-

chemistry; fine structure of plant and animal tissues as revealed through

electron microscopy; gross and microscopic plant and animal anatomy;

and cell and tissue changes in old age.

The program in Environmental Biology provided grants for research

in plant and animal ecology; ecological physiology; paleoecology; vari-

ous projects in parasitology; biological oceanography; animal behavior

and other areas in which the major immediate emphasis concerned the

interrelationships between physical, biological, or sociological factors

and one or more organisms. In addition, support was given for the

purchase of specialized equipment, and for the design and development

of research equipment. The distribution of grants changed somewhat

in fiscal year 1959 with studies of the dynamics and structure of animal

populations, biological oceanography, life history investigations, and

680017–6

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projects involving quantitative community ecology comprising nearly

half of the grants made. The remainder were rather evenly distributed

in number in the general areas of plant and animal physiological ecology,

vegetation development, paleoecology, behavioral studies, productivity

analyses, limnology, various aspects of mycology and parasitology, and

microcliiatology.

The Genetic Biology program continued to support research directed

toward elucidating the nature-both structurally and chemically-of

genetic material, the laws governing the transmission of hereditary

traits from one generation to another, and the mechanisms by which

genetic material controls and determines the expression of hereditary

characters. Within this framework, grants made by the program sup

ported studies on cytogenetics; genetic fine structure and gene action;

investigations of evolutionary mechanisms; quantitative and popula-

tion genetics; and the genetics of specific traits. Experimental ap

proaches to the problems include cytogenetic and recombinational

analyses; breeding and selection experiments; and biophysical, bio-

chemical, and mathematical methods. Much of the genetic program

research was directed, at the molecular and cellular level, toward the

fundamental problems of defining the gene and elucidating the mecha-

nisms by which it acts, reduplicates, and mutates.

Since the inception of the Metabolic Biology program 2 years ago,

there has been considerable clarification of the content of the program;

grants made during the past year have dealt almost exclusively with

intermediary metabolism, and comprise an area concerned with meta-

bolic pathways and the interrelationships between enzyme reactions and

metabolic pools. The areas of investigation ranged from the mechanism

of protein synthesis and growth to specific metabolic factors which in-

hibit growth. Within this wide area were problems dealing with nearly

all metabolic processes of animal and plant tissues; mechanisms of cellu-

lar respiration ; and effects of hormones and inorganic ions on the

metabolism of plants and animals. A number of grants dealt with vari-

ous phases of photosynthesis and the mechanism of action of antibiotics.

Grants made by the Molecular Biology program encompassed studies

of the physical and chemical properties of substances of biological origin;

studies of RNA- and DNA-type macromolecules and of individual en-

zymes-isolation, purification, synthesis, reactivity, kinetics, and mecha-

nisms of action; and aspects of physical and quantitative biology, such as

molecular genetics, molecular morphology, virus structure and organiza-

tion, membrane and bioelectric phenomena, model systems, photobi-

ology, and bioenergetics. The research supported showed a continuing

and relatively large effort in investigating peptide and protein structure,

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synthesis, and reactivity. There has been a relatively large increase in

research dealing with virus structure and organization, primary light

and energy processes, membrane phenomena, and the organization and

replication of RNA and DNA. Fiscal year 1959 grants also showed a

marked increase in research on immunochemistry, molecular genetics,

molecular morphology, bioenergetics, and investigations into the active

sites on enzyme molecules. Nuclear and electron spin resonance tech-

nology is becoming more prominent in biological research; several grants

were made this year whereby instruments were purchased or adapted to

biological problems.

Grants awarded in the Psychobiology program continued to stress

physiological and experimental psychology, with some emphasis upon the

support of quantitative techniques as these develop from the fields of

mathematics and mathematical statistics. Support was provided for re-

search dealing with sensory processes, learning, problem-solving be-

havior, and the relationship between brain mechanisms and behavior.

During the past year an increasing number of grants were made for

the field study of animal behavior, reflecting the growing attention to

ethology. For example, research is being carried out dealing with the

behavior of the African mountain gorilla, the exact territorial pattern of

behavior of the kob (an African antelope), and the behavior of the

howler monkey in Panama- the only isolated and protected primate

population which has been studied systematically.

The Regulatory Biology program deals with interactions between or-

ganisms such as host-parasite interrelations, integrative responses to ex-

ternal stimuli, and with processes originating within plants and animals

which involve regulatory functions of organs and cells. Grants during

1959 were awarded for studies on synthetic media, various biological

rhythmic processes, hormone interrelationships, physiological adaptations

and specializations leading to evolutionary change, orientation to polar-

ized light and other external stimuli, interactions between the hype

thalamus and pituitary, control of red blood cell formation, immune

reactions, etc. About one-third of the grants support investigations on

plants. The remainder is about evenly divided between three categories

consisting of invertebrates, vertebrates other than mammals, and, finally,

various aspects of mammalian physiology.

The majority of research grants in the Systematic Biology program

were for the support of monographic or revisional studies on particular

groups of organisms or for systematic studies on specified faunas or floras.

Some were made in support of large-scale biological explorations in little-

known areas, such as the Sixth Archbold Expedition for Biological Ex-

ploration in New Guinea and the Plant Survey of the Guiana Region

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of South America. Other biologists were given support for collecting

in all continents, but with more limited objectives. Grants made by this

program are playing a vital role in the resurgence of systematic biology.

Although funds have been limited, grant support has contributed, among

other things, to the stability of going research programs and to the inno-

vation of many new ones throughout the broad spectrum of organisms,

both living and fossil; to the collection, preparation, and study of new

collections, often from the outermost comers of the globe; to the prepa-

ration and publication of the results of research, which in this field often

means monographic reports; and to the improvement of the large re-

search collections that must be classed as part of our national scientific

heritage.

Proposals of a general nature which cut across several program areas

continued to be handled by the Division through a special category.

This scheme has proven to be a useful one in that it insures that the di-

vision has the necessary flexibility to handle proposals which otherwise

do not fit into individual relatively circumscribed program areas. The

range of such proposals in fiscal year 1959 varied greatly and included,

for example, the support of several projects in biometrics; grants for the

support of stocks of important biological material; support of the Mo-

bile Desert Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology; and a

variety of research equipment grants for the use of groups of scientists

working in “coherent areas” of biological research.

Facilities for Research in the Biological and Medical Sciences

During the past year, the scope of facilities support remained limited

to specialized biological facilities. These are generally facilities which

are unique either in program or in location, not found in the usual uni-

versity or college departments covering the life sciences. Included are

such facilities as marine and field stations, systematic biology museums

which house collections of various life forms, and controlled-environ-

ment laboratories.

In fiscal year 1959, 17 grants totaling $3,269,800 were made. A

grant went to the University of Wisconsin for the construction of the

first “biotron”-a

laboratory for the study of both animal and plant

growth and development under controlled-environment conditions.

Climatic variables which will be controlled include temperature, humid-

ity, light intensity, and air movement. The biotron should approach

the status of a national or regional laboratory, with access being pro-

vided to competent investigators from other institutions. Support was

also provided for renovation of the phytotron (similar to the biotron,

but limited to plant studies) at the California Institute of Technology.

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Among the grants was one to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti-

tute which will permit greater use of oceanographic vessels for the

conduct of basic biological investigations; to the Jackson Memorial

Laboratory for the construction and equipping of an addition to the

main laboratory building; to Duke University and to the University of

Florida for construction of laboratory buildings at their marine labora-

tories.

Support was provided for rehabilitation of systematic biology facil-

ities at the Bishop Museum of Hawaii, which houses some of the leading

collections of Pacific area life forms; also for major repairs and modem-

ization of buildings at the Long Island Biological Laboratory, a major

center of genetics research.

To round out the picture of the kind of facilities supported during

1959, it might be well to mention a grant to the University of California

for support of basic research facilities at the White Mountain Research

Station where high-altitude physiological research is conducted, another

to the University of Chicago for the construction of a laboratory to

permit study of the comparative behavior of animals, and finally the

one to the University of Missouri for the construction of an animal

calorimeter for determining heat losses.

DIVISION OF MATHEMATICAL,

PHYSICAL, AND

ENGINEERING SCIENCES

Current Research Support

An expansion in basic research potential in astronomy has occurred

since World War II that promises to make possible a vast number of

important discoveries within the next 10 years. This may be credited

almost entirely to the development of radically new types of instrumen-

tation, as well as to the greatly increased financial support currently

available to the astronomical community for the purpose of developing

and purchasing these instruments. Considerable support provided by

the Astronomy program is being devoted to research leading to instru-

mentation developments in order to increase the range of spectral

sensitivity of astronomical observing equipment, the overall sensitivity

of the equipment to weak sources, and the resolving power (i.e., the

ability of the equipment to record as separate sources two or more

individual objects, such as markings on the surface of the moon and

planets). Astronomy is also being revolutionized by the availability of

new high-altitude platforms for telescopes. Balloons are already being

successfully used, and space vehicles will soon permit observations from

beyond the earth’s atmosphere.

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–

A new program for Atmospheric Sciences was established in July 1958

to meet growing interests in scientific studies of the atmospheric environ-

ment. The global observational programs of the IGY added much em-

phasis, as did the scientists’ recent successes in sending aloft space satel-

lites and increasing precipitation through modern weather modification.

This new program deals with research in meteorology, upper atmosphere

studies, cloud physics, and the energy transfer processes between earth,

sea, and air. To meet the most critical need for orderly progress in

atmospheric sciences, a threshold of long-term, stable support for basic

research and the provision of adequate research tools and facility needs

have been the major objectives during the first year.

The weather modification program is handled as part of the Atmos-

pheric Sciences research support program. It was established under

Public Law 85-5 10, which directs the Foundation to “. . . . initiate

and support a program of study, research, and evaluation in the field

of weather modification.” A full range of laboratory and field experi-

mental work is already being supported, together with the study and

improvement of the physical and statistical evaluation methods em-

ployed in determining the results of any seeding operation. The pro-

gram has the objective of studying more intensively than has been at-

tempted before the scientific basis of weather modification.

In the Chemistry program grants were made principally in the areas

of organic and physical chemistry. Support for organic chemistry dur-

ing 1959 provided for studies of solvolysis reactions, small ring com-

pounds and polycyclic systems of theoretical interest, structure and total

synthesis of natural products, transannular reactions, molecular rear-

rangements, and the chemistry of divalent carbon. In physical chemistry

support was provided primarily for investigations of spectroscopic

methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic

resonance, and infrared spectroscopy; kinetics and mechanisms of re-

actions; thermodynamic properties of molecules; and quantum mechani-

cal calculations of molecular structure. Research was also supported

in inorganic chemistry on boron compounds, the transition elements,

and the properties of optically active complex inorganic compounds; in

analytical chemistry, on polarography, gas chromatography, and on

chelating agents.

A shift in emphasis in the Earth Sciences program has resulted in

greater support for oceanography, so that a more significant fraction of

the scientific programs of oceanographic institutions might be free of

pressure for immediate practical results. As in the past, the program

has also been concerned with geophysics, geochemistry, and geology.

These areas commonly overlap both with the life and other physical

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sciences-geochemistry with chemistry, geophysics with classical physics,

paleoecology with environmental biology, geology with engineering

sciences, paleontology with systematic biology. During the year interest

has noticeably increased in seismology and crustal studies, based on the

need for more information about the crust and mantle of the earth.

The Engineering Sciences program, recognizing the broad responsi-

bilities of the engineering profession, recommends for support research

which should provide either new knowledge concerning basic physical

properties, or generalizations that reflect better understanding or more

realistic predictions of the behavior of systems. If engineering sciences

grants are identified by scientific fields, most of the research effort is

in transfer and rate mechanisms, fluid mechanics, the properties of mate-

rials, and the mechanics of solids. During this year two grants were

made in the increasingly significant field of plasma dynamics. They are

somewhat unique in that they involve the interdisciplinary efforts of

highly trained investigators in the sciences of aerodynamics, thermody-

namics, electrodynamics, chemistry, atomic and molecular physics, and

applied mathematics. Another grant which will coordinate activities

of engineers, physicists, and chemists is in the field of magnetic resonance

research.

The Mathematical Sciences program has continued its support of all

areas of theoretical mathematics. Emphasis tends to mirror the pat-

terns of interest of the mathematical community, which in turn usually

correspond with the fields in which most significant progress is being

made. Thus, algebraic topology is an area which is flourishing, and is

attracting increasing efforts on the part of research mathematicians.

Among other areas in which substantial results are being achieved, one

might note a renewed activity in differential geometry and the theory

of finite groups.

The Physics program has continued to place major emphasis on high-

energy physics, particularly cosmic rays. More emphasis than in pre-

vious years has also centered on low-temperature research, such as that

exploring the dynamics of liquid helium. A noticeable trend upward

is also apparent in theoretical physics and in solid state research. There

has been an increase in cooperative research in high-energy physics in

which unique facilities, such as the cosmotron at Brookhaven and the

bevatron at Berkeley, are used by research workers from other institu-

tions. In this program the visiting scientist spends a few days or weeks

taking extensive photographs of phenomena of interest to him, and then

making the measurements and calculations in a more leisurely manner

back at his own institution. This spreading of the usefulness of the

high-energy machines among institutions otherwise cut off from active

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fields of research tends to unify the field of experimental nuclear physics.

Fundamental to the success of this type of research are means for re-

ducing the records to a form suitable for input to the high-speed calculat-

ing machines now available.

The National

Observatories

1. The National Radio Astronomy

Observatory.-After years of

planning and construction, many of the facilities of the Observatory are

approaching completion or are actually in operation. The smaller of

the two principal instruments, an 85-foot radio telescope, went into

part-time operation during March 1959 and into full operation a few

months later. This instrument is named after a man who was a prin-

cipal contributor to its design, the late Dr. Howard E. Tatel. Con-

structed by the Blaw-Knox Co., the precision of the parabolic surfaces is

such as to permit its use at radio wavelengths as short as 3 cm. The

feed of the instrument is of an unusually advanced design that provides

three distinct elements capable of receiving information simultaneously

on 3.75 cm., 21 cm., and 68 cm. This arrangement permits the tele-

scope to operate with a productivity equivalent to that of three 85-foot

telescopes equipped with more conventional feeds. Receivers of the

greatest possible sensitivity are being provided or planned for. Several

important research projects have already been carried out by the staff

and visiting astronomers, and many more are planned. (See p. 46.)

The larger of the two steerable telescopes planned for the Observatory

is a 140-foot dish. Construction of this instrument is well advanced,

the concrete pier having been completed, as well as some of the moving

parts. It seems reasonable to hope that this instrument will be in full

operation during the calendar year 196 1, despite the fact that the plans

require that the 2,000-ton, 140-foot dish retain its shape in all operating

positions to within a few millimeters.

Other facilities at the site of the Observatory at Green Bank, W. Va.,

include an office-laboratory building, a residence hall, and a mainte-

nance building. All of these will be in operation by the end of October

1959. The facilities and staff, which now numbers 40 people, have

been carefully selected to provide the finest in research opportunities

for all qualified U.S. scientists desiring to do research in the area of

radio astronomy.

2. The Kitt Peak National Observatory.-Construction of the Kitt

Peak National Observatory was started in 1959. It will have two major

telescopes for observing the stars: a 36-inch reflector scheduled for

operation during the fiscal year 1960, and an 84-inch reflector to be

completed in 1961 or 1962. Although not the world’s largest, nor of

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radically new design, these instruments will incorporate all of the

advanced techniques of recent years in order that observations of

extremely faint stars can be made.

The Observatory’s solar telescope, however, is intended to be the

largest in the world. It will have a parabolic mirror 60 inches in

diameter with a focal length of 300 feet, which will form a solar image

several times larger and more brightly illuminated (per square second

of arc) than is attainable with any other ground-based instrument.

The conversion of an undeveloped mountain top on an Indian reser-

vation into a modem astronomical observatory that will rank among

the world’s foremost is a formidable task. In addition to telescopes,

buildings, onsite roads, and utilities on the mountain, a city laboratory

building is being constructed in Tucson. This building, adjacent to

the University of Arizona campus, with instrument shops and offices, will

provide a base station for the resident staff and visiting astronomers. It

is anticipated that most of these supporting facilities will be completed

and occupied during the fiscal year 1960. A permanent paved access

road is being constructed from the base of Kitt Peak to the Observatory,

but will probably not be completed until a later date.

Long-range plans for the Kitt Peak National Observatory have en-

visioned the eventual installation on the mountain of a very large re-

flecting telescope with an aperture of perhaps several hundred inches.

However, with the sudden dawning of the space age, these plans have

been placed in abeyance in favor of a new and exciting project, namely,

the design, construction, and operation of a large, orbital (satellite) opti-

cal telescope. It seems appropriate that this project should be under-

taken at Kitt Peak under the management of the Association of Univer-

sities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., because the magnitude of the

effort would tax the resources of a single university very heavily. This

program looks beyond the specialized, smaller orbital telescopes now

being planned at several other observatories. The Kitt Peak space tele-

scope would be an accurately pointable instrument of high resolving

power which can make observations on command from the ground and

communicate them back to the earth. This is definitely a long-range

project; it may be many years before such a sophisticated, fully operable

telescope. can be placed in orbit. At present an aperture of about 50

inches is being considered. It would be most desirable to place the

instrument into a 24-hour orbit, i.e. at an altitude of about 22,000 miles

above the surface of the earth, in order to keep it in view of the ground

station at all times. It is hoped that this telescope may eventually form

a pax-t of the total instrumentation of the Observatory and be available,

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–

as are the other telescopes, to all qualified U.S. astronomers. The ulti-

mate cost will probably be very large, and close liaison with other U.S.

Government agencies, particularly the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration, will be maintained during all phases of the project.

Facilities for Research In the Mathematical,

Physical, and Engineering

Sciences

Support provided for facilities in the mathematical, physical, and en-

gineering sciences totaled $12.3 million in fiscal year 1959, including the

national observatories described above.

As in the last few years, the largest portion of facilities money went

for support of the two national astronomical observatories. The Na-

tional Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, W. Va., received

$4,350,000 in 1959 which makes a total since 1957 of $9.5 million.

The Kitt Peak National Observatory received $4,405,000 during the

year, bringing the amount spent for this observatory up to approximately

$7.5 million.

Grants for research reactors were four in number totaling $2 million,

and were made to Texas A. & M. College, Georgia Institute of Tech-

nology, University of Buffalo, and Cornell University. In 1959, as-

sistance to the amount of $1.5 million for the establishment of computing

centers was given to the following institutions: North Carolina, Okla-

homa, Yale, Iowa State, and Cornell.

OFFICE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

During fiscal year 1959, the Foundation established an Office of

Social Sciences to support research and related activities in basic social

science disciplines. This Office replaces the previous Social Science

Research Program and represents a further step in the development of

Foundation activities in the area. It is clear that the intellectual, eco-

nomic, and social strength of our Nation requires a vigorous approach

to social problems, with scientific techniques of study making their

maximum contribution. The Foundation, in supporting basic scientific

research in the social sciences, endeavors to assist social scientists to

improve their research techniques, to accumulate fundamental knowl-

edge about human behavior and society, and to develop sound theoret-

ical bases for further inquiry. Support of basic social science research

within the framework of the National Science Foundation stimulates

interchange between natural and social scientists and will undergird any

effort on the part of others to deal with social problems and public

policy.

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Current Research Support

The Anthropological

Sciences program includes basic research in

archeology, physical and cultural anthropology, linguistics, and related

fields. Grants made in fiscal year 1959 include support for the study

of the ethnography of little understood cultures, such as the Seminole

of Florida, the Nyaturu of Kenya, and the Ibo of Nigeria. Such field

research adds to our knowledge of the varieties of human culture and

the processes of sociocultural change. Some of the archeological proj-

ects are concerned with investigation of new and improved dating

processes, such as beach-ridge dating and obsidian-hydration dating.

An expedition to the Middle East will investigate the paleoecological

aspects of the beginnings of food production. Projects in linguistics

include the application of statistical methods to problems of historic

linguistic reconstruction and a study of paralanguage among the Taos.

A grant has been made to two cryptologists to enable them to apply

modem techniques of cryptoanalysis and structural linguistics to the

still unsolved puzzle of Mayan hieroglyphics.

The Sociological Sciences program has been active in support of

laboratory studies of individual choice behavior which are directed to

increasing our knowledge of how individuals make decisions in the face

of incomplete information and uncertain outcomes. Techniques for the

measurement of attitudes and investigation of the dynamics of attitude

formation and change are other areas in which experimental research

is being supported, including studies of how resistance to attitude change

is built up, and of the nature and extent of changes in attitude which

follow the receipt of items of information that disagree with previously

held beliefs. The increased use of mat,hematical concepts and tech-

niques in the sociological sciences is evidenced by grants for the con-

struction and testing of probability models for conformity behavior and

for experimental simulation of social processes on electronic computers.

The core of the Economic Sciences program has been mathematical

economics, and grants have been made for econometric studies of param-

eter estimates, resource allocation, and time-series analysis. In addi-

tion, grants of interest and importance to basic economic theory, which

are not econometric in technique, have been made in 1959. Among

these are studies of international economic transactions, investigations

of economic behavior at the level of the individual consuming house-

hold, and research into the economic aspects of technological inventions.

The History and Philosophy of Science program provided support

for research in the history of metallurgy, studies of early American nat-

uralists, and investigations of the development of mathematical propor-

tionality. Research in the philosophy of science covered grants for

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studies on inductive probability, the philosophy of fundamental physical

theory, and the foundations of measurement.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL

PROGRAMS

ANTARCTIC RESEARCH PROGRAM

Current Research Support

Unlike the programs previously discussed which are organized by

scientific discipline, the Antarctic Research program is supported on a

geographical basis and covers many disciplines.

Investigations underway include the following : observations and

measurements of aurora and airglow at each of the Antarctic stations;

studies in the biological and medical sciences, including bacteriology,

marine fishes, bird migration, psychology, and transmission of disease

in isolated communities; geomagnetic observations made at each of the

stations; glaciological studies, including snow accumulation, movement

of glaciers, thickness of the icecap, and chronological banding in the

ice; studies in ionospheric physics at many of the stations by probing

the ionosphere with radio transmitters and recording of special radio

signals; the collection of meteorological data at all stations and on the

traverses, with additional data from balloon-carried radiosondes;

oceanographic research carried out at each of the shoreline stations and

from the Navy supply ships in the Antarctic; seismology investigations,

including station studies with permanent seismographs to record and

measure earthquake waves, and traverse seismology in which artificial

vibrations are used to study ice thickness and subsurface geology.

An expanded program of research in the same disciplines as the above,

with the additions of studies in geodesy and cartography, cosmic rays,

gravity, and geology, will be conducted by the next team of scientists

going to the Antarctic in the fall of 1959.

(A description of the organization of the Antarctic Research Program

can be found under “Special International Programs.“)

Significant Research Developments

STRATOSCOPE INSTRUMENTATION MAKES POSSIBLE HISTORIC SUNSPOT

Pr-ro-ros.-The Stratoscope I 12-inch balloon-borne solar telescope proj-

ect supported by NSF made three successful flights from Lake Elmo,

Minn., during the summer of 1959, obtaining a great many of the

clearest photographs ever obtained of the sun’s surface, in time sequence.

The photos show details of the umbra and penumbra (center and sur-

rounding magnetic areas) of sunspots, including a large group that

seriously interrupted radio communications in August, as well as of the

polygonal convection cells elsewhere on the sun’s surface. (See p. 27.)

Page 14

These flights marked the first successful control from the ground of

an astronomical instrument in space, for the aiming and focusing of

the telescope was accomplished by remote control from a trailer van

stationed beneath a point in the estimated trajectory of the balloon.

The field of view of the telescope was continuously monitored on the

ground by a closed-circuit television system. It is expected that many

of the techniques developed in connection with this project will find

application in other models of space instruments, both balloon borne

and satellite borne.

During the flights the telescope remained at an altitude of over 15

miles for the period its camera operated, then was parachuted to earth.

Purpose of sending the telescope up in a balloon was to get it above

the earth’s atmosphere, which prevents clear visibility of celestial objects.

At its height of 80,000 feet, Stratoscope I was above about 98 percent of

the earths atmosphere.

+ * *

RESOLUTION OF FINE STRUCTURE OF GALACTIC NucLxus.-The source

of radio emission known as Sagittarius A is one of the most intense in

the whole sky. Lying very nearly in the center of our galaxy (200

million billion miles from the earth), many radio astronomers have

believed it to be the nucleus of the Milky Way. It is used as the zerc

from which galactic longitude is measured in the newly adopted system

of galactic coordinates.

An investigator working at NSF’s National Radio Astronomy Observa-

tory at Green Bank, W. Va., successfully used the new 85-foot Tatel

radio telescope to resolve Sagittarius A into at least four component

parts. One of the first results obtained with this telescope, this finding

indicates that parts of the source may not be located at the center of

the galaxy; as a result, a considerable revision in ideas of the physical

structure of the galactic center might be necessary. Whether one of

the observed components is the nucleus and the components are

subordinate to it, or whether all the components taken together make

up the galactic nucleus, must now be answered.

Y 3t *

THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ENERGY GAP AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY.-

The explanation of superconductivity, the vanishing of electrical resist-

ance in certain materials near absolute zero, has been a major unsolved

problem in theoretical physics for the past half century. Recently, how-

ever, a new theory of superconductivity has been proposed which in

explaining this phenomenon suggests the existence of an “energy gap”

Page 15

of a definite magnitude in the electronic excitation spectrum of the

superconductor. Measurements of the transmission of submillimeter

radiation through thin superconducting f%ns and measurements of the

reflection of this radiation from bulk superconductors have helped verify

the predictions of this theory. Indeed, by very ingenious experiments

using this latter technique in the far infrared, NSF grantees have pro-

vided the most direct demonstration to date of the existence of this energy

gaPa

During the same period another NSF grantee has measured very

accurately the specific heat of certain metals in the superconducting

state to test experimentally still another aspect of this new theory which

predicts the behavior of the electronic specific heat contribution. This

work has provided additional verification of the existence of this energy

gap*

These two experiments taken together comprise a major advance in

our understanding of the phenomenon of nonresistant flow of electrical

current.

+ * *

GENE STRUCTURE CORRELATED WITH PROTEIN SYNTHESIS.-Much

research in genetics today is oriented toward solving the important prob-

lem of how genes act to control the metabolic (chemical) activities of

cells. Specific chemical reactions in the cell are controlled by specific

protein molecules known as enzymes, the synthesis of which is controlled

in turn by genes that are thought to determine the exact sequence of the

many subunits (amino acids) in the protein molecules.

A genetic system is being investigated which may lead us closer to an

ultimate understanding of the relationship between the fine structure

of genes and the chemistry of the cell. A map has been constructed

for a series of changes (mutations) within the particular gene that con-

trols the production of the specific enzyme responsible for the synthesis

of the amino acid, tryptophan, in the bacterium Escherichiu coli. Muta-

tions at any Point within this gene may cause loss of some or all of the

enzyme activity. In some cases, even though much of the specific

enzyme activity is lost, an altered protein can be detected by immunolog-

ical techniques; in other cases, no related protein of any kind is formed.

In either case, it is possible to produce reverse mutations in the gene,

so that the enzyme activity and other characteristics of the normal pro-

tein are fully or partially restored. Thus, the investigators now have a

series of proteins, including the original active protein, more-or-less

enzymatically inactive altered proteins produced by mutated genes, and

altered proteins whose activity has been partially or fully restored by

Page 16

reverse mutation. They are now determining the amino acid sequence

in each of these kinds of proteins, and they hope to correlate differences

in amino-acid sequence both with changes in the enzymatic activity of

the protein and with the position of the mutation sites in the gene.

With such a knowledge of the fine structure of the gene, the enzyme

whose production it controls, and the chemistry of the cell, it should

eventually be possible to repair hereditary defects in cellular metabolism

by deliberately changing the gene itself or by externally controlling the

synthesis of its products.

* + *

BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS .-An apparently universal characteristic of living

organisms is the ability to orient themselves in space and time by mech-

nisms best described as “biological clocks,” in much the same manner

as manmade systems.

Amphipods (sand fleas), for example, possess biological clocks which

respond to the elevation of the sun, from which they get the cues

initiating their vertical migrations. There is other evidence indicating

that certain animal forms have multiple rhythms interacting with each

other simultaneously in different frequencies so that rhythm mixing

results in new cycles. Some of these clocks are triggered by temperature

stimuli, while others may be linked to different environmental cues, such

as light stimulation or moisture stimulation. It is obvious then that

highly timed stimuli apparently can be stored in organisms at primitive

levels, although we are relatively ignorant of the evolution of such

systems within organisms from lower to higher level and from general

modalities to highly discriminating sensory organs within any one

organism.

A hypothesis developed by a Foundation-supported investigator as-

sumes that all organisms are capable of time measurement in that their

“clocks” have a common and ancient basic mechanism. This basic

element is an oscillatory system with a natural period evolved to match,

approximately, the earth’s rotation, its annual circling of the sun, and

interacting with the revolution of our moon around the earth. As an

example, one of the best known biological rhythms is that of the dally

period periodicity of the onset of running activity in small rodents. An

analysis of this periodic system has shown that the hamster “clock” has

an error that does not exceed 2 minutes in 24 hours in its activity

pattern. Within limits such patterns of activity may be modified within

various organisms by appropriate techniques, but it has also been demon-

strated that there are limits within which these systems may be vio-

lated without causing great stress and eventual death to the organisms

involved.

Page 17

Potentially important contributions to the development of man-

machine systems may be derived from investigations of orientation com-

ponents and systems in organisms. Various flying, terrestrial, and

aquatic animals exhibit unique abilities of sensing, direction finding,

time discrimination, and integration of information over time, directly

relevant to the attainment of analogous objectives in the field of bio-

astronautics. These organisms possess the abilities to filter information,

detect and identify targets, discriminate faint signals from noise, navi-

gate considerable distances on coordinates not yet identified, and inter-

cept moving targets by methods which demand continued investigations.

One example of a compact and efficient navigational system is the

vocal and auditory apparatus of a bat. Although it weighs less than

1 gram, this system orients flight maneuvers in darkness, discriminates

faint echoes from minute moving targets from louder noise in the same

frequency band, and guides the interception of individual flying insects

at rates up to one every second. Still more compact sensory and inte-

grating mechanisms for detecting and filtering chemical, optical, and

mechanical signals are to be found in insects. Complex patterns of

sensory input are analyzed within a fraction of a second, and the output

of a few milligrams of nervous tissue results in a definitive decision and

appropriate action. Even the smallest and simplest of these mechanisms

is capable of recognizing patterns of sensory input rather than merely

responding when some threshold intensity is reached.

* * +

MECHANISM OF ACTION OF THYROID GLAND CONTROL OF META-

MORPHOSIS OF TADPOLE TO ADULT AMr=HmrAN.-The iodine-contain-

ing hormone (thyroxine) produced by the thyroid gland has long been

known to exercise a vital role in the regulation of developmental proc-

esses. For example, a deficiency of thyroxine results in cretinism-a

form of idiocy in humans.

In amphibians, the complex metamorphic changes which transform

the fishlike tadpole into the adult land form are subject to thyroid regu-

lation. Among the changes involved are resorption of gills and tail,

development of limbs, and numerous other transformations involving

jaws, teeth, skin, brain, and behavior. Tadpoles, in which the thyroid

is rendered inactive by the removal of the pituitary gland, do not under-

go metamorphosis. By rearing such tadpoles in solutions of thyroxine

of graded concentrations, an investigator has discovered that specific

metamorphic changes are triggered by particular concentrations of the

hormone. Another experimental series, involving substances identical

to the basic portion of the molecular structure but differing in the

Page 18

chemical composition of the reacting groups (analogs), indicated that

various compounds had different levels of activity and sites of action in

addition to the effects of quantities of thyroxine. It seems that the

qualitative nature of the chemical molecule of the thyroid hormone can

selectively regulate specific developmental events.

The transforming tadpole may be viewed as a complex mosaic of

parts, many of which are responsive to thyroid hormones. The nature

of the response depends not only upon the part in question, but also

upon the hormone concentration, and perhaps upon the relative pro-

portion of the different molecular forms of the hormone. Alteration

of one or more of the normal factors can produce an abnormal sequence

of developmental events.

* * +

DEPTH PERCEPTION OF HUMAN INFANTS WELL DEVELOPED BY TIME

LOCOMOTION Is POSSIBLE.-A new technique of testing for visual depth

perception is being used to shed some light upon an age-old controversy

about native and learned factors in the perception of distance. Does a

baby learn through experience to avoid falling over a vertical edge, or

is this ability to discriminate distance an inborn one? A “visual cliff”

apparatus has been developed to study this problem. (See photo on

p. 24.) The child is placed on a board which spans a large fenced-in

sheet of glass. On one side of the center board a textured linoleum

surface is laid directly under the glass (the “near” side) ; on the other

side, a matching linoleum surface is laid 3v~ feet below the glass (the

“far” side). The cues to safe descent are exclusively visual; tact&,

olfactory, or auditory cues are the same on both sides of the center

board. The investigators find that by the time locomotion is possible,

the crawling child shows a very strong preference for the “near” side,

avoiding what appears to be a sharp dropoff. The same avoidance of

an apparent dropoff has also been observed in very young rats, goats,

and chickens. It appears even in rats that have been dark reared until

20 minutes prior to testing. Depth appears to be discriminated on the

basis of visual stimulation, even when chances for previous learning are

minimal.

TEST TUBE PRODUCTION OF HEMOGLOBIN IDENTIFIES CELL PARTICU-

LATE WHICH SYNTHESIZES PROTEINS.-cd1

particulates called micro-

somes are known to play a major role in protein synthesis. Only now

with the successful synthesis of a specific protein-hemoglobin, the

1 oxygen-carrying protein in the red blood cells-outside the living cell is

their role being more fully understood.

630047–8&O

Page 19

Microsomes were extracted from the red blood cells of the rabbit

and mixed with two enzymes from the same type cell, energy-yielding

phosphate compounds, and a complete mixture of amino acids. Three

of the amino acids were labeled with radioactive carbon atoms. After

incubation, it was found that hemoglobin was produced containing

the labeled amino acids in the same ratio as that occurring in the natural

rabbit hemoglobin.

The red blood cell microsomal protein contains two of the three amino

acids which were labeled before being added to the mixture, but in a

different ratio than that in rabbit hemoglobin. The ratio in the synthesis

product was that of hemoglobin, thus showing that the microsomes were

making hemoglobin and not microsomal protein.

The microsomes are essential to the experiment. Without them no

labeled amino acids were taken up. The microsome must therefore

perform the role of a jig or template for the manufacture of specific pro-

tein molecules.

* * +

HORMONESYNTHESISRESULTSINLARGESTMANMADEPROTEIN

MOLE-

CULL-A pituitary hormone that is the largest polypeptide (protein)

molecule yet produced in the laboratory has been successfully synthesized.

The molecule consists of 13 amino acids linked in a specific sequence

fairly similar to ACTH in structure. This hormone stimulates the

melanocyte cells, which produce a skin coloring pigment. The hormone

may prove useful in treating albiim.

The particular significance of this synthesis is that it can be used to

study the relationship of chemical structure to biological activity. It has

been determined that relatively small fragments of the hormone, con-

taining key amino acid sequences, may possess the ability to perform the

functions of the complete hormone when large enough levels are used.

Whether or not these fragments are capable of sustaining all of the bio-

logical functions of the intact hormone remains to be established.

* it *

CATALYST BLEND FACTOR IDENTIFIED THAT TRANSFORMS SOLUBLE

FIBRIN INTOTHEINSOLUBLEFORM

(BLOOD CLOT) .-Acatalyticfactor

has been obtained from blood which apparently occurs as a complex

with fibrinogen and has the ability to transform 1,000 to 10,000 times

its own weight of soluble fibrin into the insoluble form. For the first time

it is now possible to study blood clotting at the molecular level and per-

haps minimize the trauma of surgery and accelerate wound healing.

The blood-clotting process is believed to occur in the following man-

ner. Fibrinogen, a complex polypeptide, is split by thrombin; a peptide

bond-breaking catalyst, to small units called fibrin monomers. These

Page 20

monomers polymerize into chains. After a high degree of polymeriza-

tion has been achieved, the chains are cross-linked forming a blood clot.

If the cross-linkages occur in the presence of calcium ions and the pre-

viously mentioned catalytic factor, the linkage is very strong and the clot

is quite resistant to dissolution.

METHOD DEVELOPED FOR GROWING WINTER GRAINS IN TROPICS IN A

THIRD OF USUAL TIME.-Winter rye has been grown which produces

grain without cold temperatures and in one-third of usual time. Grain

is normally produced by winter rye in eight months, including a cold

spell of 6 to 8 weeks. With the use of a newly developed technique, it

now becomes feasible to raise winter rye and probably most other winter

grains in the tropics in 21/z months.

The rye plants were grown in a phytotron (a building in which it is

possible to control the various environmental factors). In this case

the temperature was kept at a constant 62” F. When the plants were

a month old and had about 10 leaves each, they were sprayed with a

plant-growth hormone, gibberelin.

Gibberelin spray eliminated the need for the prolonged cold period

required by nature for the production of winter grains. It is believed

that during the cold period the plants normally secrete and accumulate

the hormones necessary for growth and flowering.

if * *

ENZYMATIC SYNTHESIS OF DNA (BASIC HEREDITARY MATERIAL)

LEADS TO UNDERSTANDING OF CHEMISTRY OF DNA FORMATION.-AS

previously reported, the addition of a bacterial enzyme to a mixture of

nucleic acid building blocks (nucleoside triphosphates) has resulted in

the production of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) provided a small quan-

tity of DNA is used as a primer.

The synthetic material is composed of macromolecules possessing a

high degree of intramolecular organization involving purine and pyrimi-

dine rings. The molecular structure is two stranded (double spiral),

apparently linked by hydrogen bonds similar to natural DNA.

The process of synthesis is autocatalytic (the more DNA produced,

the faster the reaction). As long as only the secondary structure of

the DNA primer is disrupted, the double-stranded DNA macromolecules

are still produced.

However, the use of an unusual DNA primer (AT-Polymer), not

obtained naturally and containing only two of the four naturally oc-

curring nucleic acid components resulted in the production of large

Page 21

amounts of AT-Polymer. This occurred even though all four were

present.

* * *

EXCAVATION OF THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY INHABITED CITY IN THE

NEW WORLD-DzIBILcHALTuN.-NoTthem Yucatan, in Mexico, is the

site of the ruins of a Mayan city inhabited for more than 3,000 years,

from 2,000 B.C. in pre-Mayan times till after the Spanish conquest by

cortez.

Partial excavation of the ruined pyramids and temples of Dzibilchal-

tun has revealed a city of 20 square miles with a central lo-square-mile

area. This “downtown” section had pyramidal temples, palaces, and

buildings of vaulted stone with thatched houses on stone foundations

crowded between the larger buildings. Surrounding this area were

the “suburbs” with fewer pyramids, but equally crowded with stone-

vaulted temples and residential platforms. A l~s-mile-long, 60-foot-

wide limestone causeway spanned the center of Dzibilchaltun-8 feet

high in some places.

The significance of the excavation of the oldest continuously in-

habited city in the New World is that it will provide an unexcelled

yardstick for studying the historic development of Mayan culture over

a continuum of more than three millennia.

+ * *

EFFECT OF TEMPTATION ON CHANGES IN ATTITUDE.-The theory of

cognitive dissonance holds that when a person is forced to do or say

something in disagreement with his privately held opinion, there will be

a tendency for opinion to change in such a way as to bring it into cor-

respondence with the act performed. Secondly the greater the pressure

used to induce the discordant act, the less will be the tendency to

change opinion. In an experimental test of this theory, changes in

moral attitudes following either cheating on a test or refraining from

cheating were investigated. A sample of students were offered a prize

for good performance on a test and were given an opportunity to cheat.

Those who did not take advantage of the opportunity and did not

cheat became more severe in their attitudes toward cheating, while

those who did cheat became more lenient. The greater the motivation

to cheat (tested by varying the value of the prize), the greater each of

these effects was. This study is one of the first to explore the conse-

quences when an individual is faced with the decision to comply with,

or violate, a standard and, if verified by further research, will increase

our ability to predict human behavior.

Page 22

EVIDENCE FOUND OF LARGE VOLCANIC RnuPrroN.-During a Founda-

tion-supported cruise of the oceanographic research vessel R/V ‘Vemu,

the precision depth recorder picked up a subbottom echo from an ap

parently continuous layer that extends from about 12” N. to 12” S.

latitude, and is about 5” longitude wide. It ranges from within a few

inches of the surface to as much as 120 feet below the sea floor. In the

11 cores that were obtained, the layer consisted of a clean, pure, nearly

white volcanic ash with an average thickness of 4 inches. The purity

of the ash suggests that it was deposited over a very short period of time.

Also the sediments above and below the ash are quite similar, indicat-

ing that no permanent major environmental change resulted from the

ash fall.

It is possible that this represents the volcanic debris from one major

eruption. If so, it is larger than any single explosive eruption known

in historic times. It is also possible that the ash is the product of

multiple eruptions over a short period of time and from several volcanic

centers. Although the limits of the ash are by no means known, in the

area thus far covered its volume exceeds 30 cubic miles, more than a

thousand times the volume of the famous Krakatao volcanic eruption

in 1883, which resulted in concussion heard 2,500 miles away.

Thus far an isotopic date for the ash layer has not been obtained.

Further work on dating is planned.

* + c

OCEANOGRAPHIC CRUISE RESULTS IN DISCOVERY OF MOLLUSK

THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT FOR 300 MILLION YEARS.The same cruise

through the Caribbean and down the west coast of South America into

the South Atlantic made possible many samplings of sediments and

living animals and plants from the deep ocean. Several specimens of

neopilinids in good condition were dredged up from the bottom of the

Peru-Chile trench, one of which proved to be a brandnew species which

has been named “Neopilina (Vema) ewingi.” These small organisms

were thought to have lived only during the Paleozoic era of geologic

time and were believed to have died out at least 300 million years ago.

Their existence today is therefore as important biologically as was the

discovery of the coelecanth fish off the African coast several years ago.

All fossil forms of neopilinids so far discovered have come from sedi-

ments deposited in relatively shallow water. The newly discovered

form came from a depth of about 18,000 feet. Thus, either the neo-

pilinids were adapted to living in both deep and shallow water from

the beginning of their existence, or they gradually moved into deeper

water as the competition for life increased in the shallow waters off the

Page 23

continental shelves, and as they moved became progressively adapted

to life without light and under extreme pressure.

SEQUOM MIGRATIONS ESTABLISHED.-AII

NSF grantee has been able

to trace the history of the giant redwood or “Big Tree” from tropical

swamps 60 million years ago through adaptation to drier and cooler

climates. This involved migration from California to western Nevada

and back to California again. The modem trees are found in discon-

tinuous patches from the northern to southern Sierra Nevada range.

Fossil sequoia have been found in sediments up to 70 million years old

in California and Nevada.

The ancient species occurred in humid subtropical to warm temperate

climates and was associated with other warmth- and moisture-loving

forms. During the 10 or 20 million years of the early Tertiary period,

the climate became drier and cooler. In response the sequoia adapted

itself to the less tropical conditions, so that by about 25 million years

ago a tree much like the modem Big Tree had evolved, able to stand

cooler winters but still requiring a great deal of summer moisture. The

Sierra Nevada had not yet developed to their present great heights,

enabling the trees to spread to what is now western Nevada, benefiting

from what was then a mild, humid climate providing an ideal natural

nursery.

As the Sierra Nevada was uplifted, rainfall on the eastern side of the

range was drastically reduced and many of the leafy trees, such as birch,

sycamore, elm, and certain maples, found today only in the eastern

United States, were effectively eliminated from the area. The sequoia

and a few others managed to survive by migration across the top of

the rising mountains.

Later, faced with the much lower winter temperatures of the Pleiste

cene glacial epoch, Big Tree again migrated down into warmer climates,

remaining only in areas w,here there was enough summer moisture for

its shallow root system. The glacial ice, cutting through many valleys,

isolated patches of the sequoia one from another, in the areas where

they are generally found today.

+ + I)

A FRESH LOOK AT THE PHYSICAL WORLD AS A MANY-BODY PROB-

LEM.-Investigations carried out under one NSF grant may be expected

to lead to a unification of approach to problems in many branches of

physics, and to a significant advance in our knowledge of the physical

world. Less sophisticated theories have in the past failed to explain

many common physical phenomena, especially those encountered in

Page 24

the study of nuclear structure. This is so because of the extreme com-

plexity of so many nuclei. An exact solution may be found for problems

involving the simplest of all nuclei, that of hydrogen. But as the num-

ber of particles in a nucleus increases, the number of interactions among

the particles shortly becomes 50 numerous that, while equations can be

written, they are too complex to be solved.

The brilliant new theoretical approach which is enabling physicists

to overcome these obstacles is known as the “many-body” solution, and

provides a method of dealing with highly complicated physical phenom-

ena by approximations. With solutions sufficiently exact to be extremely

valuable, the new technique has proven very successful and has opened

up an entire new field for dealing with particles too numerous to be

treated individually, but too few to be treated statistically.

EQUIPMENT DEVELOPED WHICH PRODUCES ULTRA-HIGH PRESSURES

AND HIGH TEMPERATURES.–AI1 apparatus has been developed which

can produce ultra-high pressures and high temperatures similar to those

produced by the device which successfully synthesized diamonds, but

using different principles.

The equipment called a tetrahedral anvil can generate pressures

up to 100,000 atmospheres ( 1.5 million pounds per square inch) at

3,000” c. ; and for very short periods, at temperatures as high as

50,000” C. It consists of four anvils with triangular faces. Hydraulic

rams drive the anvils together, compressing the sample and developing

pressure in three dimensions. Heat is supplied to the sample from elec-

trical resistance heaters beneath the anvil faces.

Investigations are now being conducted on the chemical and physical

properties of matter at high pressures and high temperatures with the

apparatus. It should be particularly valuable in geochemical research

by increasing the understanding of the nature of the earth’s interior and

the manner in which minerals develop. In metallurgy, its use may lead

to the development of metals with all sorts of properties hitherto im-

possible to produce.

Research-Related Activities

Scientific Conferences and Symposia

During the past fiscal year, the Foundation sponsored and provided

partial support for 41 scientific conferences and symposia. In most in-

stances, sponsorship was shared with one or more private or public

agencies, including universities and scientific societies.

Page 25

1958 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENaE ON S~YI~oNDuCTo~s-R~~~~~~~, N.Y., August

18-22, 1958; Chairman:

John Bardeen, Urbana, Ill.; Cosponsor: The University of

Rochester.

PROPERTIES 01 METALS AT Low TaMPaaAruaca-Geneva,

N.Y., August 25-29,

1958; Chairman:

Milan D. Fiske, General Electric Co., Research Laboratory,

Sche-

nectady, N.Y.; Cosponsor: General Electric Co., Research Laboratory.

FRACTURE CoLLoQururd-Dedham,

Mass., September 8-11, 1958; Chairman:

B. L.

Auerbach, Department

of Metallurgy,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cam-

bridge, Mass.; Cosponsor: Committee on Ship Steel and Materials Advisory Board

of the National Academy of Sciences-National

Research Council.

CONFERENCE ON FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH IN PLAIN CONCRETE-AlhtOn Park,Ill.,

September 8-12, 1958; Chairman:

Clyde E. Kesler, University

of Illinois, Urbana,

Ill.; Cosponsors: American Concrete Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers,

Portland Cement Association, Reinforced Concrete Research Council.

CONFERENCE ON BASIC RESEARCH IN CIVIL ENGINEERIN~WaShingtOn,

D.C:, Sep-

tember lo-11,1958;

Chairman: Martin Mason, dean of engineering, George Washing-

ton University, Washington, D.C.; Cosponsors: American Society of Civil Engineers,

George Washington University.

STOPPING POWER CONPsReNcE~atlinburg,

Tenn., September 15-18, 1958; Chair-

man: Edwin A. Uehling, Department of Physics, University

of Washington, Seattle,

Wash. ; Cosponsor: National Academy of Sciences-National

Research Council Sub-

committee on Penetration of Charge Particles in Matter.

1958 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMALL ANGLE X-RAY SCATTERING PROM

METALS-Kansas

City, MO., September 23-25, 1958; Chairman:

J. C. Grosskreutr,

Department of Physics, Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, MO.; Cosponsor:

Midwest Research Institute.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

OF PROCESS METAL-

Luaov-Pittsburgh,

Pa., April 27-30, 1959; Chairman: Augustus B. Kinzel, American

Institute of Mining, Metallurgical

& Petroleum Engineers, Inc., New York, N.Y.;

Cosponsor: Metallurgical

Society of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical

Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

SYMPOSIUM ON PARTIALLY ORDERED SETS IN LATTICE Tnnoav-Monterey,

Calif.,

April 1959; Chairman:

J. H. Curtiss, American Mathematical

Society, Providence,

R.I.; Cosponsor: American Mathematical

Society.

CONFERENCE ON THEDESIGN ANDCONDUCT OF RESEARCH PROGRAMS IN WEATHER

MomrxCwxoN-Shenandoah

National Park, Va., May l-3, 1959; Chairman: John W.

Tukey, Department

of Mathematics,

Princeton University,

Princeton, N. J. ; Cospon-

sor: Division of Mathematics,

National

Academy of Sciences-National

Research

Council.

SYMPOSIUM ON LIQU~ DIELECTRICS- Philadelphia, Pa., May 3-7, 1959; Chairman:

Louis J. Frisco, Dielectric Laboratory,

Johns Hopkins University,

Baltimore, Md.;

Cosponsor: The Electromechanical

Society, Inc.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT AND TECH-

NIQuEs-Washington,

D.C., May 5-12, 1959; Chairman: Waldo E. Smith, American

Geophysical Union, Washington,

D.C. ; Cosponsors: American Geophysical Union,

International

Association of Geodesy.

SYMPOSIUM ON QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY- Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., June 3-10,

1959; Chairman:

M. Demerec, Biological Laboratory, Long Island Biological Associ-

ation, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.; Cosponsor: Long Island Biological Association.

GENERAL PETROLEUM GEOCHEMISTRY Svr,sposrur.s-New

York, N.Y., June 4, 1959;

Chairman:

Bartholomew

S. Nagy, Department

of Chemistry, Fordham University,

New York, N.Y.; Cosponsor: Fordham University.

Page 26

18~~ Gaowrss Svr.sPosxuss-University

of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., June 11-13,

1959; Chairman:

Ralph 0. Erickson, Department of Botany, University of Pennsyl-

vania, Philadelphia,

Pa. ; Cosponsor : Society for the Study of Development

and

Growth.

CONFERENCE ON OPTICAL PuarPrNo-Ann

Arbor, Mich., June 15-19, 1959; Chair-

man: Peter Franken, Department

of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,

Mich. ; Cosponsor : University of Michigan.

MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONING ENGI-

NEERS-Philadelphia,

Pa., January, 1959; Chairman:

John Everetts, Jr., American

Society of Heating & Air-Conditioning

Engineers, Philadelphia, Pa.; Cosponsor: The

Technical Advisory Committee on Physiological Research and Human Comfort.

PILOT CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CLINIC ON THE INSTRUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS FOR

CLOUD AND WEATHER MoDrFIcATIoN-Cambridge,

Mass., February 1 l-13, 1959;

Chairman:

Lloyd E. Slater, Foundation

for Instrumentation

Education and Re-

search, New York, N.Y.; Cosponsors: American Meteorological

Society, Foundation

for Instrumentation

Education and Research, Meteorology Department, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology.

Two REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY CONFERENCES-AihgstOr

Point, Fla.,

March 13-14, 1959, and Colby College, Waterville,

Maine, March 23-24, 1959;

Chairman:

Victor Twitty, Department

of Zoology, Stanford University,

Stanford,

Calif. ; Cosponsor: American Society of Zoologists.

MIDWEST CONFERENCE ON THEORETICAL PHysrcs-Evanston,

Ill., March 13-14,

1959; Chairman:

Max Dresden, Department

of Physics, Northwestern

University,

Evanston, Ill. ; Cosponsor: Northwestern

University.

SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE NUCLEAR

OPTICAL MonxL-Tallahassee,

Fla., March

16-l 7, 1959; Chairman:

Alex E. S. Green, Department of Physics, Florida State

University,

Tallahassee, Fla. ; Sponsor: Florida State University.

SYMPOSIUM ON ASTRONOMICAL ASPECTS OF COSMIC %ys-University

of Rochester,

Rochester, N.Y., March 30-April 2, 1959; Chairman:

Malcolm P. Savedoff, Depart-

ment of Physics, University

of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.; Cosponsors: University

of Rochester, American Astronomical Society.

TECHNICAL CoNmmENaa ON PHYSICAL METALLURGY OF STRESS-CORROSION FUG-

Tuax-Pittsburgh,

Pa., April 2-3, 1959; Chairman:

R. W. Shearman, The Mctal-

lurgical

Society of the American

Institute

of Metallurgical

Engineers,

New

York, N.Y.; Cosponsor:

The Metallurgical

Society of the American Institute of

Metallurgical

Engineers.

THIRD

SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK MxcHaNrcs-Golden,

Colo., April 2O-22,1959; Chair-

man: Lute J. Parkinson, Department

of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of

Mines, Golden, Colo.; Cosponsor: Colorado School of Mines.

SECOND ASTRO~~ETRIC CoNrxaaNcx-Cincinnati,

Ohio, April 20-23, 1959; Chair-

man: Paul Herget, Director, Cincinnati Observatory,

Cincinnati, Ohio; Cosponsor:

Cincinnati Observatory, University of Cincinnati.

CONFERENCE ON THE ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR OF THE MOUNTAIN GoamLA-Wash-

ington, D.C., September 30, 1958; Chairman:

Fairfield Osbom, New York Zoo-

logical Society, New York, N.Y.; Cosponsor: New York Zoological Society.

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON CLOUD Pssvsrcs-Woods

Hole, Mass., September 1958;

Chairman:

Helmut Weickmann,

Section of Meteorology,

American Geophysical

Union, National

Academy of Sciences, Washington,

D.C.; Cosponsor:

American

Geophysical Union Committee on Cloud Physics.

SYMPOSIUY ON IMAGE INTENSIFICATION-Fort Belvoir, Va., October 8-7, 1958;

Chairman:

Robert S. Wiseman, Warfare Vision Branch, U.S. Army Engineer Re-

Page 27

search and Development

Laboratories,

Fort Belvoir, Vs.; Cosponsor:

U.S. Army

Engineer Research and Development Laboratories.

~NPBlurNCJZ ON SYSTEYATID MUSEULIS AS IhOuRCsS POR BASIC RESEARCE-

University of the State of New York, Albany, N.Y., October 13-14, 1958; Chairman:

William N. Fenton, New York State Museum and Science Service, Albany, N.Y.;

Cosponsor: The University of the State of New York.

CONFERENCE ON VERTEBRATE SPECLUXON-UtiVCrSity of Texas, Austin, Tex.,

October 26-November

1, 1958; Chairman:

W. Frank Blair, Department of Zoology,

University of Texas, Austin, Tex. ; Cosponsor: University

of Texas.

JOINT MELTINO OF INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BRICK AND STRUCTURAL

ENOINEERINO AND THE STRUCTURAL DIVISION OF hfERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL

ENGINEERS-NCW York, N.Y., October 1958; Chairman:

Frank Baron, Department

of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.; Cosponsor: American

Society of Civil Engineers.

SYMPOSIUM ON PLANETARY RNXO ASTRONOMY-GaheSVi&,

Fla., Decembei 28,

1958; Chairman:

Alex G. Smith, Department

of Physics, University

of Florida,

Gainesville, Fla. ; Cosponsors : University of Florida, American Astronomical

Society.

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY GEooEsv-Harvard

University,

Decem-

ber 1958; Chairman:

Milton 0. Schmidt, University

of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.; Co-

sponsors : Section of Geodesy of the American Geophysical

Union, Astrophysical

Observatory of the Smithsonian Institution.

SECOND CARIBBEAN GEOLOWCAL CowFaaaNcE-Mayaguez,

P.R., January 5-9,

1959; Chairman:

John D. Weaver, professor of geology, University

of Puerto Rico,

Mayaguez, P.R.; Cosponsors: University

of Puerto Rico, Economic Development

Administration

of the Commonwealth

of Puerto Rico.

SYMPOSIUM ON ELECTROMAONETIC THaoav-Toronto,

Canada, June 15-20, 1959;

Chairman:

George Sinclair, University

of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Cosponsor:

Commission VI of the International

Scientific Radio Union.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUIT AND INFORMATION THGORY–LOS Angeles,

Calif., June 16-18, 1959; Chairman:

R. A. Epstein, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

Institute of Radio Engineers, Pasadena, Calif.; Cosponsors:

Institute of Radio

Engineers, International

Scientific Radio Union.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOLECULAR QUANTUM MEcnArucs-Boulder,

Colo., June 17-21, 1959; Chairman:

Robert G. Parr, Department

of Chemistry,

Carnegie Institute

of Technology,

Schenley Park, Pittsburgh,

Pa.; Cosponsor:

University of Colorado.

FOURTH BIENNIAL SYMPOSIUM ON ANIMAL REPaoDuCTIoN-Urbana,

Ill., June

18-20, 1959; Chairman:

N. L. VanDemark,

University

of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.;

Cosponsor : University of Illinois.

CONFERENCE ON THE PREPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CHLMICAL COMPOUNDS

OF CERTIFIED HIGH PURITY-Washington,

D.C., June 22-23, 1959; Chairman:

Clem 0. Miller, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, National Academy

of Sciences-National

Research Council, Washington,

D.C. ; Cosponsor : National

Academy of Sciences-National

Research Council.

THE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON ATMOSPRERIC PoLLunoru-Santa

Barbara, Calif., June 29-30, 1959; Chairman:

Kenneth C. Spengler, American

Meteorological

Society, Boston, Mass. ; Cosponsor: The Committee on Air Pollution,

American Meteorological

Society.

WORKSHOP ON BIOLOOICAL PHENOMENA IN SUBMOLECULAR LavaLs-Marine

Bio-

logical Laboratory,

Woods Hole, Mass., June, July, and August, 1959; Chairman:

Albert Szent-Gorgyi,

Institute for Muscle Research, Marine Biological Laboratory,

Woods Hole, Mass.; Cosponsor: Marine Biological Laboratory.

Page 28

Support of travel to International

Moerfngs

Personal contact between highly competent scientists from all over

the world, conducting similar types of research, is one of the most im-

portant means by which ideas are exchanged. This sort of croa+fert&

zation is vital to the advancement of scientific knowledge. The Founda-

tion, therefore, partially defrays travel costs for a limited number of

American scientists to attend selected international meetings and con-

gresses abroad. The grant to the scientist generally provides for a

round-trip, air-tourist fare between his home institution and the location

of the meeting. In the 1959 fiscal year, 419 scientists received such

awards at a cost of approximately $330,000.

Training Aspects of Research Grants

The research grants program continued to contribute significantly

to the training of both predoctoral and postdoctoral research assistants

and associates. During 1959, approximately 2,000 of these people

received the highest caliber of training through their participation in

research projects under the supervision of many of this country’s most

competent scientists.

Combining this number with the approximately 4,000 awards offered

through the Foundation’s formal fellowship programs gives a total of

6,000 who have been provided with the opportunity to further their

scientific education and laboratory training under the most favorable

and productive conditions.

Fiscal Analysis of Research Programs

During the 1959 fiscal year, 1,809 grants were made in support of

basic research to 333 institutions in all 50 States, the District of Colum-

bia, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, France, Israel, and

Turkey. Expenditures for research in the sciences totaled $64.5

million-$49 million for research grants and $15.5 million for facilities.

The average 1959 research grant amounts to $27,153 for a period of

2.26 years, or $12,015 a year. (See fig. 1.) While the duration of

the average grant has increased only slightly in the past year, the amount

has increased by 40 percent. This is a reflection of the ability to provide

more nearly adequate support for requests for research funds.

Facilities grants were discussed in detail previously in the sections

dealing with the programs of research divisions and offices.

Table 1 summarizes the research grant program by subject categories.

A detailed list of grants showing institutions, principal grantee, title of

project, and amount is given in appendix C.

Page 29

loblo 1 .–Notional

Scimce Foundation granfr, by leldr of ~hco,

tPSI-59

Field

Biological and medical sciences:

Developmental …………

Environmental

…………

Genetic ………………

Metabolic …………….

Molecular.

……………

Psychobiology.

………..

Regulatory ……………

Systematic ……………

General. ……………..

Mathematical,

physical, and en-

gineering sciences:

Astronomy …………….

Atmospheric sciences. …….

Chemistry. …………….

Earth sciences. …………

Engineering sciences. …….

Mathematical

sciences. …..

Physics. ……………..

Social sciences:

Anthropological.

. . . . . .

Sociological . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Economic. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

History and philosophy

science . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antarctic research (life and phys-

ical sciences). . . . . . . . . . . . .

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fiscal year, 1958

Number

103

605

. . . . . . .

134

466

604,300

953,600

711,150

1,482,350

1,609,lOO

968,800

1,075,280

1,036,350

440,100

8,881,130

1,017,830

. . . . . . . . . .

2,323,900

1,246,395

1,538,400

1,242,lOO

2,139,200

9,507,825

384,100

182,100

93,300

66,450

725,950

922,800

Fiscal year, 1959

Number

119

116

148

103

182

967

199

129

142

746

—

1,809

Amount

1,591,700

2,333,700

1,780,650

3,141,600

4,059,400

1, 518,800

2,575,245

2,568,600

891,910

–

20,461,605

1,955,175

2,920,769

4, 406,445

2,063,860

4,311,POO

2,556,175

5,509,lOO

23,723,424

353,700

279,000

137,900

118,700

—

889,300

4,057,200

49,121,529

Page 30

~,ovrl DIRECT COSTS

——— –___________ SALARY COSTS

——- -________

Indirect Costs = 13.8% of’

Total Direct Costs = $ 3,747

Figure 1 .-Distribution

of research grant funds, by type

of expenditure,

bored on overage

grant for fiscal year 1959 of $27,153.

Page 31

TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

The availability of increased funds in fiscal year 1959, $62.5 com-

pared to $20.5 millions in 1958, made possible a more vigorous and

varied attack on the problems of science education by the Division of

Scientific Personnel and Education. Old programs were expanded and

new programs were established.

As in the past, the program activities of the Division were directed

toward the attainment of excellence in science education and were

focused on specific problems witbin the following general areas:

( 1) Motivation and support of high-caliber students and ad-

vanced scholars in science, mathematics, and engineering.

(2) Supplemental training in subject matter for teachers of

science, mathematics, and engineering at all levels in the educa-

tional system.

(3) Development of new and more realistic course-content ma-

terials and teaching and learning aids.

(4) Improvement of information about the training, utiliiation,

and need for scientific and technological manpower.

The Foundation’s general approach to problems of science educa-

tion is based fundamentally on the principle that the improvement of

education in the sciences must come from within the scientific and edu-

cational communities themselves. Such improvement requires close

cooperation between those whose work is primarily research and these

who teach.

For the most part, support has gone directly to educational institu-

tions, professional societies, and other organizations of scientists and

science teachers for the implementation of activities which they them-

selves have developed and which our advisers have agreed show promise

of success. These advisers-se ientists and science teachers-come from

the high schools, the colleges and universities, industry, and govern-

mental agencies.

Page 32

Motivation

and Support of High-Caliber

Students and Advanced

Scholars

Since the most important element in science education is the learner,

primary attention must be given to him. His interests must be de-

veloped and his motivations strengthened. If he is to become an ad-

vanced scholar, it must be possible for him to remain in school. A

major share of NSF funds has gone to the support of programs in this

area. Programs reach students at every level in the educational struc-

ture, from the junior high school (science clubs and student science

projects) through the highest levels of graduate training (senior post-

doctoral fellowships).

One of the most interesting-potentially one of the most promising-

of the new programs this year was the Summer Science Training Pro-

gram for Secondary School Students. Through the support provided,

about 6,000 highly selected high school students were able to spend time .

on the campuses of colleges and universities and at research activities

of other kinds and to participate in scientific activities in a variety of ways.

A number of other programs are directed toward the motivation and

training of precollege students who are interested in science and mathe-

matics. Many of the projects to be conducted under the new State

Academies of Science Program will reach these youth. A considerable

amount of support will be provided by the State academies for activities

in the junior academies of science and for enrichment of the science club

and science fair programs.

Additional support was given to each of the “old” programs which

have been directed primarily toward secondary school students: Visiting

Scientists, Traveling Science Libraries, Traveling Science Demonstration

Lectures, Science Clubs and Student Science Projects, and Career

Information.

The first substantial effort to improve the training of undergraduate

students of science, mathematics, and engineering was launched during

the past year under the program title “Undergraduate Research Partici-

pation.” Essentially, the program makes possible participation by under-

graduate students in actual research being conducted in colleges, univer-

sities, and other nonprofit research institutions. Under the 2 13 grants

which were made, approximately 2,200 students were able to participate

in scientific activity of a relatively high order. Not only should this

program help to motivate many of the more able undergraduate students

to continue into graduate work, but it should contribute much to their

actual training in the methods and techniques of science.

Page 33

Two new programs were initiated for the support of graduate students

and advanced scholars-the Cooperative Graduate Fellowship Program

and Summer Fellowships for Graduate Teaching Assistants. The Co-

operative Graduate Fellowship Program is similar in many respects

to the established program of Graduate Fellowships. The essential dif-

ferences are that the cooperating institutions participate in the evaluation

of applicants and that they receive specific amounts to apply toward the

cost of education of the fellows. The program of Summer Fellowships

for Graduate Teaching Assistants is an innovation aimed at making it

possible for the graduate teaching assistant to pursue his own studies

and research during the summers, and thus hasten the completion of

his graduate work. The need for the program is reflected in the fact

that more than 1,200 teaching assistants in 105 institutions applied for

these fellowships in the first year of operation.

Supplemental

Training for Teachers

While many factors combine in the “effective” science teacher, the

fundamental one is knowledge of his field. For a number of years, an

increasing amount of support has been provided for programs which

supplement the subject-matter knowledge of teache~particularly

the secondary school level. This support, in the past, has been concen-

trated largely in the now well-known summer institutes. Growing

programs of Academic Year and In-Service Institutes have extended the

opportunities of secondary school teachers to obtain supplemental sub-

ject-matter training. That the same problem exists at the college and

university levels has been recognized and is being dealt with through

Summer Institutes and Summer Conferences for College Teachers and

Science Faculty Fellowships.

A number of new programs in the area of supplemental teacher

training inaugurated in 1959 have been designed to bolster weak spots in

the area of teacher qualifications; these programs now span the entire

spectrum from the elementary and junior high schools through the

graduate levels.

Secondary school teachers of science and mathematics differ widely

in the extent and quality of their subject-matter training. Many are

trying to provide adequate instruction to their students when they them-

selves have had little or no formal training in the subjects which they

are teaching. Others are bona fide graduate students who need the

opportunity to progress in their fields of specialization. In the past,

efforts have been made to reach both groups-and those between the

extremes-through the institutes programs. Many summer institutes

Page 34

have been designed to reach teachers at particular levels within this

range.

These institutes have not been adequate, however, to serve the needs

of the best qualified of the secondary school teachers of science and

mathemati-those

whose primary need is to pursue graduate study

toward advanced degrees in their fields of specialization. For this rea-

son, the new program of Summer Fellowships for Secondary School

Teachers was designed and introduced during fiscal year 1959. The

mechanism of this program is very similar to that used in the Graduate

Fellowship programs, and in the summer of 1959 the first awardees-

selected by the Foundation through a national competition and studying

in their individually designed programs of study at the institutions of

their choice-began receiving stipends for durations of one to three

summers.

The Research Participation for Teacher Training Program provided

another method of improving the professional competence of the best

qualified science and mathematics teachers in secondary schools and

colleges. This program made it possible for teachers with an adequate

subject-matter background to participate in ongoing research programs

at institutions with established research traditions. This experience

provided the participating teacher an insight into science not gained by

course work.

Three important new activities designed for groups of science

teachers not previously included or to meet other special needs were

launched within the institutes framework. These programs were di-

rected toward groups of teachers of science, mathematics, and engineer-

ing whose needs had not been met through other programs.

Growing recognition of the importance of science education as a part

of the general education program at the elementary school level led to

the first tentative and experimental approach by the Foundation in this

area-to help determine the responsibilities of the Foundation and ways

in which it might best meet these responsibilities. A small program of

12 Summer Institutes for Elementary School Teachers and Supervisors

was supported.

There was a special need for programs designed for science and mathe-

matics instructors in technical institutes, who teac,h generally at the

college level and whose academic backgrounds are widely varied. For

this reason, two exploratory special Summer Institutes for Technical

Institute Personnel were supported.

For a number of reasons, it appeared that the Summer Institutes for

College Teachers were not completely filling the need for summer sup-

580047-7

Page 35

plemental training. Two of the most important factors to be considered

were that the institutes were too long in duration for many teachers and

that many teachers had need for more specialized training than the insti-

tutes could offer. Accordingly, the new program of Summer Conferences

for College Teachers was introduced on an experimental basis in 1959.

Approximately 20 summer conferences-all of less than 4 weeks in dura-

tion, and covering a variety of specialized subject matter areas-were

supported. About 530 college and university teachers attended.

The programs for the supplemental training described above are more

or less formalized and “programmatic” in nature. A concentrated effort

is being made to discover ways to meet still other needs in the training of

teachers at all levels. A number of projects of this nature were supported

in 1959, ranging from highly specialized field institutes to short con-

ferences on college teaching and workshops for teachers at the lower

academic levels.

Course-Content

Materials

and leaching

Aids

It is necessary, of course, that we have well-motivated students and

scholars working under the direction of well-qualified teachers if we are

to meet our national need both for scientific literacy in the whole popu-

lation and for adequate numbers of highly competent scientists and sci-

ence teachers at all levels. But this is not sufficient; another factor which

cannot be overlooked is the provision of improved instructional ma-

terials–the tools which enable the teacher to best do his job.

The ever-increasing acceleration in the acquisition of scientific and

technological knowledge, together with its manifold impact on every area

of human thought and activity, has produced a serious lag between ad-

vances in science and technology and their presentation in the classroom.

The complexity and implications of this problem led to an initially

experimental approach by the Foundation through grants both for rela-

tively small, exploratory projects in several fields and for a pioneering

major effort to bring scholarship of the highest order to the development

of a new physics course for the high schools. The success of these ven-

tures, particularly of the Physical Sciences Study Committee in devising

the new physics course, led to support for comparable projects in other

disciplines and for a variety of efforts to improve course content and

develop new supplementary teaching aids.

Improvement

of Scientific Manpower

Information

Basic to the understanding of the problems of science education and to

the development of programs to meet these problems is manpower in-

formation. We must know, in a substantive way, not only our present

and future needs for scientists, technologists, and teachers at all levels

Page 36

and in all fields, but we must be able to assess the status of training and

education with respect to meeting these needs. For this reason, the ac-

tivities of the Scientific Manpower Program have been expanded in ways

designed to provide better and more current information of many kinds.

Other Activities

Because our international relationships are vital and science education

cannot be contained within national boundaries, an effort was made dur-

ing fiscal year 1959 to explore ways in which we could profit by the ex-

perience of our international neighbors in coping with our own problems.

These exploratory activities touched upon each of the major problem

areas in which we have program interests–students and advanced schol-

ars, the training of teachers at the secondary-school and college levels,

course content and teaching aids, and the collection and dissemination of

scientific manpower information.

Fellowship Programs

Traditionally, fellowships are considered by the academic community

as a form of grant to selected individuals to enable those individuals to

further their own education. Fellowships are clearly distinct in concept

from grants designed to underwrite a specific project-research or de-

velopment-and do not normally require that the recipient render any

services to the donor.

The National Science Foundation fellowship programs provide sup

port for scientific study or work in mathematics, the sciences, and engi-

neering. Fellows are selected in national competition solely on the basis

of ability. They have freedom of choice in selecting the educational

institutions which they desire to attend.

Seven fellowship programs were in operation during fiscal year 1959-

Graduate (Predoctoral) , Postdoctoral (Regular), Senior Postdoctoral,

Science Faculty, Cooperative Graduate, Summer Fellowships for Gradu-

ate Teaching As&ants, and Summer Fellowships for Secondary School

Teachers.

A total of 3,937 fellowships were awarded in 1959; their value was

approximately $13.1 million. (Appendix F shows the distribution of

fellowship awards by type, field, and State.)

Graduate

Fellowships

(Predoctoral)

The Graduate Fellowships program offers support to unusually able

students working for master’s or more advanced degrees to enable them

to complete their studies as quickly as possible. In 1959, a total of

1,100 awardees were selected from 4,506 applicants; program support

Page 37

amounted to approximately $3.2 million. Honorable mention was ac-

corded 1,979 applicants.

Stipends for these 1959 awards were set at $1,800, $2,000, and $2,200

per year depending on the level of the fellowship-first year, intermediate,

or terminal. In addition to stipends, financial support is provided for

tuition, dependents, and other allowances.

Postdoctoral

Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships are intended especially for those individuals

who have received a doctor’s degree within the past 5 years. The pro-

gram’s objective is to improve the capabilities and stature of such persons

as investigators in their chosen fields of research.

In fiscal year 1959, there were 778 applications and a total of 194

awards for tenure ranging from 6 to 24 months, depending on the pro-

gram planned by the individual. The cost of the program for those

accepting awards was approximately $1.1 million.

Postdoctoral fellows are provided with stipends at the rate of $4,500

per year ($5,000 per year for portions of tenure beyond 12 months), plus

allowances for dependents, travel, and special expenses.

Senior Postdoctoral

Fellowships

The Senior Postdoctoral Fellowships program is designed to enable rec-

ognized senior scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to be relieved of

their normal professional responsibilities so that they may pursue a full-

time program of study designed to broaden their knowledge and to im-

prove their capabilities as investigators.

During 1959,241 scientists applied for these fellowships; 83 individuals

were offered awards. The estimated cost was $767,000.

Tenures are from 3 to 24 months, with stipends of the salary-matching

type not exceeding $12,000 per year. Allowances for travel and special

expenses are available.

Science Faculty Fellowships

The aim of the Science Faculty Fellowships program is the direct im-

provement of science education by providing college and university

faculty members with the opportunity to improve and update their

knowledge of the fields in which they have specialized (or of closely

related fields), and hence their competency as college teachers. This

program permits faculty members to be relieved of teaching responsibili-

ties in order to pursue a full-time study program.

Of the 1,069 individuals who applied, awards were offered to 302.

The coat of this program during 1959 was about $2.3 million.

Page 38

Science Faculty Fellows may elect tenures ranging from 3 to 15

months and receive stipends on a salary-matching basis (not to exceed

$12,000 per year) as of the time of application. In addition, they are

provided with allowances for travel, special expenses, and tuition, if

required.

Summer Fellowships

for Secondary School Teachers of Science and

Mathematics

New in fiscal year 1959, the program of Summer Fellowships for

Secondary School Teachers of Science and Mathematics permits second-

ary school teachers of high ability to undertake individually planned

programs of summer study to improve their subject matter competence,

and thus enhance their effectiveness as teachers.

Tenures from one summer of 6 weeks to three full summers are

available. Stipends total $75 for each week of tenure. In addition, the

Foundation awards cover the cost of tuition, pIus limited travel and

dependency allowances. The selection of 628 awardees was made from

1,578 applicants during 1959, the first year of the program, at a cost

of approximately $1.5 million.

Summer Fellowships

for Graduate leaching Assistants

A second new program introduced in 1959, the Summer Fellowships

for Graduate Teaching Assistants, enables graduate teaching assistants

of participating institutions to devote full time, during the summer, to

their own study and research.

A total of 1,260 teaching assistants submitted applications for fellow-

ships for the summer of 1959 and 580 were offered awards, Program

support amounted to about $500,000 for those accepting awards.

A summer fellow may select a tenure ranging from 8 to 12 weeks, at

a weekly stipend of between $50 and $75 (determined by the institu-

tion) . Tuition and required fees are paid by the Foundation.

Cooperative

Graduate Fellowships

The Cooperative Graduate Fellowships program established during

the past year has, like the older program of Graduate Fellowships, the

function of offering support for predoctoral studies. It differs, however,

in that the institutions themselves play a larger part in the evaluation

of applicants and in the administration of the program. A greater

distribution of fellows among the Nation’s schools of graduate study

has been achieved through this program.

A Cooperative Graduate Fellow receives a stipend of $2,200 for a

12-month tenure. The amount may be augmented by the institution at

a rate not exceeding $800 per year. In lieu of tuition and fees, a cost-

Page 39

of-education allowance of $1,800 is provided to the institution for each

fellow. Fellows may undertake limited teaching duties as a justifiable

part of their academic training.

A total of 2,872 individuals applied through 111 colleges and univelsi-

ties in 1959. The Foundation offered awards to 1,050 individuals,

representing 105 institutions. The cost of the program was about $3.7

million.

NATO Science Fellowships

The North Atlantic Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-

tion established the NATO Science Fellowships program in the fall of

1958. The program is designed to stimulate the exchange of scientists

among the NATO countries by the fellowships mechanism; each mem-

ber nation is charged with selecting fellows from among its own

population. The Foundation, at the request of the Department of

State, administered the program under the title “NATO Postdoctoral

Fellowships in Science” for the United States.

Of the 91 Americans who applied, 20 were selected and will study

in various NATO countries and Sweden.

Institutes Programs

The primary objective of the institutes programs is to improve science

instruction through making it possible for teachers in secondary

schools and colleges to obtain additional knowledge of subject matter

and to become acquainted with new developments in science and mathe-

matics. The institutes are characterized as “group” activities-as con-

trasted with the individual activities of fellows-and employ course

materials specially prepared to meet the subject matter needs of the

teachers.

Four major institute programs are supported by the Foundation:

(1) Summer Institutes for High School Teachers of Science and Mathe-

matics, (2) Summer Conferences for College Teachers, (3) Academic

Year Institutes for High School and College Teachers, and (4) In-

Service Institutes for High School Teachers. Limited experimental

programs also being supported include Summer Institutes for Elemen-

tary School Teachers and Supervisors, Summer Institutes for Faculty

of Technical Institutes and Technical Curricula in Junior Colleges,

and In-Service Institutes for Elementary Science Teachers.

Fiscal year 1959 costs totaled $33.6 million for 348 summer institutes

for high school and college teachers, 12 summer institutes for elementary

school teachers and supervisors, 32 academic year institutes, 182 in-

service institutes, 20 summer conferences, 12 elementary summer insti-

tutes, 11 elementary inservice institutes, and 2 summer programs for

Page 40

technical institute personnel. The 1959 program was about two and

a half times as large as that of 1958.

Proposals for institutes originate with the colleges and universities

and the institutes are conducted by them. The Foundation does not

participate in the selection of participants or the operation of the

institutes.

Summer Institutes

From a program that started out in 1953 with approximately 100

participants, 42 of whom received NSF stipends, the summer institutes

program had grown by 1959 to one with 2 1,000 participants, 20,000

of whom received NSF stipends.

The content offered by these institutes has grown also. From a

modest beginning of two different programs, the offerings have become

more varied until institutes in the summer of 1959 represented 12 dif-

ferent fields in science and mathematics. There are NSF summer pro-

grams in each of the 50 States and Puerto Rico.

Two additional summer training activities were established in fiscal

year 1959-Summer Conferences for College Teachers and Summer

Programs for Technical Institute Personnel. An experimental program

to provide summer institute experience for elementary-school super-

visors and teachers in the area of science and mathematics also was

initiated in the summer of 1959.

1. Summer Institutes for Secondary School and College Teachers.-

The summer institutes for high school and college teachers have increased

from 2 in 1953 to 348 during the summer of 1959. They are designed

to improve the competence of the participating teachers by providing

courses that are specially aimed at overcoming deficiencies in their knowl-

edge of the subject matter of science and mathematics. Most of the

participants have completed their formal coursework a number of years

ago, and others must teach courses in science and mathematics for which

they have not had adequate academic preparation.

The institutes vary in length from 4 to 12 weeks. The average in

1959 was 7 weeks. The number of participants in each institute in 1959

varied from 10 to 150.

Of the 348 summer institutes in 1959, 30 were for college teachers

only; 19 were for both secondary school and college teachers; and the

remaining 299 were for secondary school teachers only.

Adequate balance in geographic distribution was maintained; for

example, 57 percent of the institutes were held east of the Mississippi

and 43 percent were held west of the Mississippi. There were 51 sum-

mer institutes in New England and New York, 86 in the other Eastern

States and the District of Columbia, 53 in the Southeastern States, 52 in

Page 41

the Midwest, 61 in the Southwest and Hawaii, 41 in the Rocky Moun-

tain and Northwest region (including Alaska), and 4 in the Common-

wealth of Puerto Rico.

The National Science Foundation grants provided funds for partici-

pant support. The maximum amount awarded a participant was set

by the Foundation at $75 per week for stipend, plus allowance for

dependents and travel. While most institutes followed this schedule

and granted the maximum allowable amounts to each awardee, a few

distributed their available funds in smaller amounts to more partici-

pants. Many of the institutes accepted a few registrants beyond those

who received stipends.

The National Science Foundation in addition awarded each host

institution sufficient funds to pay necessary tuition and fees for the

stipend holders. The Foundation grant also covered direct costs oc-

casioned by t,he institute to the extent that they exceeded the amount

already allowed for tuition and fees.

One of the essential features of this program is that the institutes

are managed so that the participants are treated as a special group and

their identity maintained. They are usually housed together, and often

spend scheduled out-of-class time together in company with their

instructors.

2. Summer Institutes for Elementary School Teachers and Super-

visors.-This program was developed on an experimental basis in 1959.

These experimental institutes are specifically designed to give key teach-

ers and supervisory personnel in elementary schools an opportunity to

increase their knowledge of the sciences and mathematics, in order that

science and mathematics can be taught more effectively to students in

the elementary schools.

T.his experimental program of 12 institutes provided training for 5 15

teachers and elementary school science supervisors.

3. Summer Programs for Technical Institute Personnel.-Also

experi-

mental in nature, these programs are specifically designed to meet the

subject matter needs, primarily in science and mathematics, of the

teacher in technical institutions not conferring the baccalaureate degree.

The first two programs in this category were supported in fiscal year

1959.

4. Summer Conferences for College Teachers.-Summer conferences

were supported for the first time as a formal program activity in 1959.

The conferences are specifically designed to consider specialized subject

matter areas of science and mathematics. Through the use of short

courses or series of lectures of less than 4 weeks’ duration, these con-

ferences facilitate an exchange of ideas among the participants and

Page 42

provide them an opportunity to learn of recent subject material

advances.

There were 546 college teachers of science and mathematics supported

in this program of 20 conferences during 1959.

Academic Year Institutes

Academic year institutes are full-time, year-long programs of study

in science and mathematics designed especially for secondary school

teachers in these fields. Financial support for the teacher and for the

host institution is provided by a grant from the Foundation. The

courses of study are planned by the colleges and universities which

sponsor them; each institution supplies the facilities and administers its

own program.

For the 1959-60 Academic Year Institute program, 32 colleges and

universities received awards. The 32 institutes represent 32 different

institutions in 29 States. Seven of these institutes are in the field of

mathematics only, while the other 25 give training in the principal

sciences, as well as in mathematics. Twenty-two of the institutes will

continue through the summer of 1960; 10 are for the academic year

only. Supplementary experimental grants were made to three institutes

for support of eight college teachers-“teachers of science”-in each

institute. It is estimated that the 1959-60 program will give support

to over 1,500 teachers from all 50 States.

During this year, supplementary grants were also made to 19 of the

1958-59 institutes to enable them to extend their programs through

the summer of 1959 for about 450 teachers.

Foundation grants to sponsoring institutions provide a maximum

stipend of $3,000 per academic year, plus additional allowances for

dependents, travel, and books. Institutions receive support for the opera-

tional costs, so that teachers do not have to pay tuition or fees.

In-Service Institutes

In-service institutes provide support in the form of grants to institu-

tions of higher learning for programs offering opportunities to teachers

from secondary schools for further study in the subject matter of the

sciences and mathematics during out-of-school hours in the academic

year.

Participating teachers receive no stipends but are given a travel

allowance at the maximum rate of 7 cents per mile for each trip from

home to institute and return. The sponsoring institutions receive support

for direct costs of operation. In 1959, 182 grants for in-service institutes

were made to 162 different institutions in 40 States, the District of

Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Page 43

It is estimated that about 9,000 secondary school teachers will have

an opportunity for further study under this program during the 1959-

60 school year.

A very limited program of in-service institutes for elementary school

teachers and supervison of mathematics and science will be supported

on an experimental basis during the 1959-60 school year. Eleven

grants were made to 11 different institutions in 10 States and Puerto

Rico. About 350 elementary school teachers and supervisors will have

an opportunity for further study under this program.

Special Projects in Science Education

The Special Projects in Science Education Programs are concerned

principally with the experimental testing and development of promising

new ideas for the improvement of science instruction and with new and

more effective methods for increasing interest in and understanding of

science. From experiments carried out in this manner have evolved such

operational programs as the institutes program and the course content

improvement program.

A total of $8.9 million was obligated in fiscal year 1959 to carry out

these special projects, which fall into three general categories: secondary

school programs, college programs and teacher improvement programs,

and international science education programs.

Secondary School Programs

These projects are planned by universities, colleges, scientific societies,

research organizations, and other groups to enlist interest in and promote

understanding of science, mathematics, and engineering by students in the

secondary schools.

1. Visiting Scientists (Secondary Schools) .-Under this project, grants

are made to professional societies for the administration of programs of

visiting scientists to secondary schools to acquaint students and faculty

with the sciences as vital activities and to provide counsel concerning

careers and education.

Participating scientists receive travel expenses, and may receive a

modest honorarium not exceeding $50 per day of school visitation.

Grants for 1959 were made to the American Chemical Society, Ameri-

can Institute of Biological Sciences, American Institute of Physics, and

the Mathematical Association of America.

2. Traveling High School Science Library Program.-The

primary

objective of this program is to stimulate the interests of high school stu-

dents in science and mathematics through making available to schools,

on a loan basis, a carefully selected library of general-interest books cov-

ering a broad spectrum of science fields. Since 1955 this program has

Page 44

been conducted, with suppo; from the Foundation, by the American

Association for the Advancement of Science. During 1958-59375 sets

of 200 books each were circulated to 1,309 high schools and preparatory

schools, including 26 Armed Forces dependents’ schools in foreign

countries.

Eight sets were loaned to State and county library systems for demon-

stration and bookmobile circulation; 153 sets were loaned to NSF-span-

sored institutes and to summer programs for academically talented high

school students for use during the summer of 1959.

An auxiliary service of this program has been the publication from

time to time by AAAS of various kinds of booklists: ( 1) The Traveling

High School Science Library, an annotated bibliography of the 200 titles

currently in use in this library; (2) An Inexpensive Science Library, a list

of paperbound science and mathematics books; and (3) The AAAS

Science Book List, containing over 1,000 annotated titles.

3. Traveling Science Demonstration Lecture Program.-Support

provided by NSF for the training and subsequent expenses of selected

teachers in demonstrating scientific principles in the classroom. These

teachers travel over designated areas of the country, visiting secondary

schools upon request.

Participating teachers receive salaries equal to their normal monthly

salary for a 12-month period. In addition, all travel expenses are paid.

The institutions which provide summer training are completely reim-

bursed for this expense and also perform the administrative arrangements

for the academic-year visits.

Support for this program for fiscal years 1956 through 1958 has been

granted to the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies; this activity was

expanded in 1959 to several other centers. Five grants were made to four

institutions: ORINS (two grants), Michigan State University, Okla-

homa State University, and the University of Oregon.

In general, the program provides for 3 months of summer training

for 20 teachers at each of the centers, and full support for these teachers

during the academic year. However, ORINS has trained an additional

20 teachers who were recommended by State education departments

or local schools systems. These teachers are supported during the sum-

mer by the National Science Foundation grant, and during t.he rest of

the year by their own school systems. ORINS, in addition, is running

2 institutes during the academic year, spring and fall, for 20 teachers

each, with the same curriculum as the summer course.

During the 1958-59 academic year, teachers trained at Oak Ridge

made visits to 194 areas and made contacts with 409 high schools, 3,000

teachers, and more than 100,000 students.

Page 45

Viiits by traveling lecturers have resulted in many significant changes

in the teaching of science, according to a large number of letters re-

ceived from schools visited. These letters recount in detail the improve-

ments which the schools have been able to make in science demonstra-

tions, laboratory equipment, assignments for students, and project work

after contact with one of the demonstration-lecturers.

4. Science Clubs and Student Projects.-The

primary objective of

thii program is to stimulate an interest in science and in scientific and

engineering careers, particularly among precollege-age students by pro-

viding grants for the support of extracurricular science projects under

the guidance of national youth organizations.

Since 1952, the National Science Foundation has provided partial

support to Science Service, a nonprofit organization which administers

t,he program of Science Clubs of America. Science projects carried out

by the members of these clubs are displayed at science fairs, culminating

in the annual National Science Fair.

A grant was also awarded to 4-H Clubs of America to defray the

costs of a joint conference of 4-H Club leaders, college scientists, and

U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists to explore methods of ex-

panding interest and understanding of science through 4-H Club

activities.

5. Summer Training for Secondary School Students.-This

series of

projects provides grants to colleges, universities, and other nonprofit

research institutions to enable them to offer opportunities to unusually

able secondary school students to study and work during the summer

with experienced scientists and mathematicians at the sponsoring

institutions,

Two general types of training programs were presented. Most com-

mon were institute-type training courses, varying in duration from 2

to 11 weeks, and featuring classroom work, laboratory exercises, and

field trips centered around a specified area of science. In some cases,

however, the training was based upon student participation in actual

research projects of appropriate scope under the guidance of scientists.

A total of 116 grants were made to 109 different institutions in 36

States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. About 6,000 stu-

dents participated in this program during the summer of 1959.

6. State Academies of Science.-State Academies of Science and

similar organizations receive support through this program for projects

to strengthen interest in science, especially among young people. Acad-

emies of Science are uniquely qualified for implementing many such

types of projects because of their active involvement with Junior Acad-

Page 46

emies of Science and science fairs, and because of the broad diversifica-

tion of professional talent represented in their memberships.

In 1959, 30 grants were made to 23 different academies in 22 States

and the District of Columbia.

7. Science Career Information.-Preparation

and distribution of

career guidance materials by scientific organizations-material designed

to give authoritative information to students considering professional

careers in various fields of science-are supported by this program.

During fiscal year 1959, grants of this nature were made to the Amer-

ican Institute of Physics, the American Geological Institute, the Amer-

ican Physiological Society, and the Florida State University.

College Programs and leacher Improvement

Programs

These programs are planned by universities, colleges, scientific societies,

research organizations, and other groups to stimulate student interest

in and understanding of science, mathematics, and engineering and

to increase the knowledge and broaden the professional outlook of

science teachers.

1. Visiting Scientists (Colleges ) .-The Foundation provides support

to national professional societies for visits by distinguished scientific lec-

turers to colleges and universities throughout the country. Visiting

scientists lecture, conduct seminars, and meet with students, faculty, and

administrative officers for the purpose of stimulating interest in science

and providing counsel concerning scientific education and careers in

science.

2. Undergraduate Research Participation Program.-This

is a newly

developed program which provides support in the form of grants to col-

leges, universities, and other nonprofit research institutions to foster

undergraduate participation in research. The purposes of the pro-

gram are to interest undergraduates in research by actually sharing in an

ongoing program, and to provide training in the techniques of research.

Participating undergraduates in some cases receive stipends to enable

them to spend time on research training, and the sponsoring institutions

receive support for a share of operating expenses.

A total of 213 grants were made under this program in 1959, with

2,205 undergraduates participating during the summer of 1959.

3. Research Participation for Teacher Training.-This

program pro-

vides support to colleges, universities, and other nonprofit research in-

stitutions for programs offering opportunities to teachers from second-

ary schools and small colleges to participate in scientific research during

the summer months.

Page 47

Participating teachers receive stipends comparable to those in summer

institutes, and the sponsoring institutions receive support for a share

of operating expenses.

Fifty-six grants were made to 54 institutions in 29 States and the

District of Columbia; these projects provided research training for ap-

proximately 400 high school teachers and 145 college teachers during

the summer of 1959.

4. Supplementary Training for Science Teachers.-Support in the

form of grants is given colleges, universities, scientific societies, and non-

profit scientific institutions for various activities aimed at improving

the quality of science and mathematics teaching at all educational levels.

Examples are short conferences on the improvement of science teaching;

longer conferences involving specialized instruction in science; and other

special summer training programs for science teachers.

Altogether, 37 grants were made to 25 institutions and 9 societies

for conferences and other teacher training activities located in 24 States;

approximately 3,000 teachers participated in these activities.

5. Special Field Institutes.-During

1959, eight special field institute

grants were made in support of outstanding special programs providing

advanced training in highly specialized subjects for college faculty

members, research workers, and advanced graduate students.

The principal objective of this program is to provide support for

instructional and operating expenses so that educational institutions

can offer important special programs for the advancement of scientific

knowledge.

Six of these institutes provided intensive summer instruction and

seminars lasting from 2 to 12 weeks; the other program involved part-

time participation during the academic year. It is estimated that 127

college professors and 80 graduate students will participate in these

programs, together with over 50 research scientists.

Specialized subjects in which instructional and research programs

were offered include : dynamical astronomy, geophysical fluid dynamics,

marine science, archeology, phytonematology, physiological optics, theo-

retical physics, and computer programming for research scientists and

engineers.

International

Science Education Programs

The activities in International Science Education, begun in fiscal year

1959, have developed under three general program groupings: Curricula

development programs, teacher-training programs, and science student

programs. Limited support was provided in 1959 for a variety of special

pilot projects which may lead to fruitful operational programs.

Page 48

1. Curricula Development Program.-In

an effort to improve the

science curricula available in this country, studies of science subject mat-

ter taught in foreign educational systems are being supported. Such

studies are conducted by appropriate professional groups in cooperation

with foreign scientists and educators. Major attention is being given

to preuniversity and undergraduate curricula. Assistance is also avail-

able to interested and qualified American groups to undertake survey

projects under the sponsorship of international regional organizations

and also under the exchange program currently underway with the

U.S.S.R. under the Lacy-Zaroubin agreement.

2. Teacher-Training

Program.-Projects supported under this head-

ing are aimed at improving the quality of our Nation’s teacher-training

programs through cooperative projects with other countries and by

making use of the experience and wisdom accumulated by other educa-

tional systems. Grants can be made to international teacher-training

institutes where the close personal contact that would be brought about

between American secondary and college teachers with their counter-

parts in other nations can lead to greatly enhanced backgrounds and

an invaluable appreciation of mutual problems. The Foundation as-

sures appropriate American participation at such institutes by providing

travel and living expenses for scientists and science teachers selected

from our Nation’s schools and colleges. Visiting foreign staff projects

are also supported whereby distinguished foreign scholars contribute to

Foundation-sponsored summer and academic year institutes programs.

3. Science Student Program.-Foundation support is offered through

these projects for a number of special science education activities aimed

at enabling science students and scientists to engage in international

educational programs with the primary objective of making it possible

for these individuals to keep abreast of the current state of knowledge

and scientific advancement throughout the world. For example, assist-

ance is given to the professional societies and institutions of higher learn-

ing to administer a program of visiting foreign scientists whereby eminent

foreign scientists are invited to spend periods of a few days to a few

weeks in science departments of our colleges and universities with the

objective of augmenting the quality of the research and educational

activities of these institutions. Increasing attention is being given to the

development and support of international field institutes whereby

scholars and students from many nations can gather together for a

few days or weeks to exchange ideas and developments in a special field

of scientific interest.

Page 49

Course Content Improvement Program

The purpose of the NSF Course Content Improvement Program is to

encourage and assist first-rank research scientists and teachers in at-

tempts to incorporate modern scientific knowledge and theory into

school curricula. As a result of experience and promising results ob-

tained in previous years, 1959 funds for these programs were substantially

increased to $6.1 million. This permitted expansion into a wide range

of disciplines and inauguration of additional major efforts.

Course Cont,ent Studies and Development

Activities under this heading provide support for first-rate mathe-

maticians, scientists, engineers, teachers at appropriate levels, and as-

sociated experts in education and the communications arts to develop

subject matter content and model instructional materials for courses

in mathematics and science in elementary and secondary schools and

for courses in mathematics, the sciences, and engineering in colleges and

universities. Projects ranging from small-scale experiments to com-

prehensive programs are national in scope and significance.

1. Science and Mathematics in Elementary Schools.-Throughout the

country, elementary schools may soon teach science in every grade, along

with mathematics. The problem is to identify significant content; to

determine at what levels particular concepts can be grasped (taking

variations in student backgrounds and abilities into account) ; and to

develop written materials, apparatus, and other aids for pupils and

teachers. Teachers’ manuals and similar materials are particularly

important, for many elementary school teachers have had little prep-

aration in science. In this field, projects are still exploratory and experi-

mental. Among them are work by mathematicians and teachers at

Stanford University on adding geometry and other topics in grades l-6,

investigation by a group at the University of California at Berkeley on

science for these grades, and development of teaching materials in

geology under the sponsorship of the American Geological Institute and

the University of Minnesota.

2. Mathematics.-The

school Mathematics Study Group was organ-

ized in mid-1958 to carry out an extensive program to improve mathe-

matics teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Many eminent

mathematicians and accomplished teachers are engaged in this project,

which is sponsored by Yale University and directed by Prof. E. G. Begle.

One goal is to provide a sound basis for a solid college course in calculus

and analytical geometry by the end of the 12th grade. Sample texts and

teacher guides for grades 7 and 9-12 will be tried experimentally during

1959-60. Special manuals are being written for in-service teachers and

Page 50

soft-cover books on special topics will be prepared for students. A

related University of Minnesota project will test the use of the new

courses in correspondence study by talented students in small schools

lacking advanced work in mat.hematics.

3. Physics.-High school physics is the subject of the pioneering com-

prehensive study. By September 1960, revised instructional materials

will be available through commercial channels for all schools wishing

to adopt the course. The result of 4 years of effort by several score of

the Nation’s top physicists, as well as several hundred teachers who

participated in developing the material and testing preliminary versions,

the course focuses upon the great ideas of physics and provides insights

into the way these ideas have developed. A textbook, laboratory guide,

a special kit of apparatus, films presenting major experiments not readily

conducted in the classroom, examinations, a teachers’ guide, and supple-

mentary books on special topics have been fashioned into a carefully

articulated learning experience. This course represents a new ap

preach to high school physics and, for the first time in many years,

brings the indispensable range and depth of knowledge of a number of

eminent scientists into the development of a secondary school curriculum.

The Physical Science Study Committee, of which Prof. J. R. Zacharias

is chairman, under the sponsorship of the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology and Educational Services, Inc., has made educational

history with the aid of grants from NSF and from other groups.

4. Chemistry.-Several approaches may prove desirable in high school

chemistry. Conferences in 1957 and 1958 led to a summer writing con-

ference at Reed College in 1959, where research leaders and college and

secondary school teachers prepared a preliminary textbook and demon-

stration and laboratory experiments for a course using chemical bonds as

the central theme. Meanwhile an interim committee of distinguished

chemists, sponsored by Ohio State University, is preparing plans for a

chemistry project comparable to that in physics.

5. Life Sciences.-In the life sciences a large group of eminent bioloi

gists and teachers have initiated the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study

(BSCS) under the chairmanship of Dr. H. Bentley Glass of Johns

Hopkins University and the sponsorship of the American Institute of

Biological Sciences. It is the intention of the BSCS, first, to develop a

new high school course in biology, and later to contribute to the improve-

ment of biological instruction at other levels.

Support has also been granted to the National Academy of Sciences for

completing the revision of a sourcebook of laboratory and field studies for

high school biology, the preliminary edition of which has received wide-

spread commendation.

630047-60-8

Page 51

6. College Studies .-The Foundation is supporting a variety of course

content and curriculum studies for colleges and universities, including

development of teaching resources in anthropology, review of curricula

in psychology, sourcebooks of experiments for general physiology and

general plant pathology, development of a new freshman chemistry course

at Johns Hopkins University, a research-oriented course at Purdue Uni-

versity for senior aeronautical engineering students, and a conference on

the subject of materials in electrical engineering curricula.

Supplementary

leaching

Aids

Under this program grants are awarded to colleges, universities, and

professional organizations to enable highly competent mathematicians,

scientists, and engineers, aided by teachers, media experts, and techni-

cians, to develop audiovisual aids and new laboratory equipment for

extending the range and to enhance the quality of their instruction.

Support is not provided under this program for projects of merely local

significance, nor for the purchase of equipment to improve facilities in a

single educational institution.

1. FilmJ.To fulfill a long-time need of science teachers, the Founda-

tion has awarded a grant for the collection of reliable information on

content and presentation in existing science films and for study of means

for encouraging the production of needed films and their more effec-

tive use.

One use of films is to stimulate interest in science through brief reports

by active scientists on their work. This is the object of “Horizons of

Science,” a project started with the aid of grants to the Educational

Testing Service. Each month through the school year subscribers will

receive a 20-minute fihn, usually confined to a single report but some-

times giving short treatments of several topics. Film can also give

everyone in a large lecture theater a close view of experiments and

demonstrations. This is a feature of Foundation-supported lectures to

be presented by scientists of the Rockefeller Institute to New York

high school students during short vacations. Fihns can assist teachers

by presenting key experiments difficult or impossible to conduct in school,

plus the stimulation of a “visit” from a distinguished scientist. For its

high school physics course the Physical Science Study Committee is pre-

paring about 60 such f&m, each about 20 minutes in length. A project

in microbiology at the University of California at Davis illustrates an-

other approach, the preparation of a series of very short films to be used

like lantern slides, but capable of showing movement, growth, and other

events which are difficult or impossible to depict in single photographs.

2. Television.-More than 700 school systems and institutions of

Page 52

higher education now can use television as an aid in classroom teach-

ing, but its potentialities require much further exploration. Partial

support was provided for one venture sponsored by the Greater Wash-

ington Educational Television Association, in which 16 school systems,

a number of university and Government laboratories, and many scien-

tists pooled their talents to produce a science course for 30,000 5th-

and 6th~graders in nearly 300 schools. In a weekly presentation, scien-

tists from different laboratories discussed major current investigations in

fields studied in the regular lessons; televised in color, these programs

were k&scoped so that they can be used in other areas.

3. Laboratory equipment .-Under an experimental program for stim-

ulating the development of new, inexpensive laboratory equipment, NSF

grants were awarded for 16 projects, including an integrated set of in-

strument “building blocks” for instruments used in analytical chemistry,

a supersonic wind tunnel, and transparent plastic models of vertebrate

embryos. Descriptions of apparatus developed under these grants will

be published and commercial supply houses are likely to consider pro-

duction of many items. A grant was also awarded to the American

Institute of Physics to publish drawings of new apparatus for college

physics.

Scientific Manpower Program

The Scientific Manpower program has as its principal function obtain-

ing and disseminating information concerning the Nation’s scientific

manpower resources. Its functions are carried out through two major

activities: ( 1) The National Register of Scientific and Technical Per-

sonnel, and (2) Scientific Manpower Studies. The cost of the program

in 1959 was $780,000.

The National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel

The National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel is main-

tained to insure that information on the resources of scientific manpower

is available, and that individual scientists and engineers with special-

ized skills can be identified and located as required in the national

interest.

During 1959, the principal activities of the Register have been di-

rected toward ( 1) bringing up to date as promptly as possible the

processing of Register data in order to maximize its usefulness, (2) con-

tinuing the coverage of scientists through the cooperative efforts of the

scientific societies, and (3 ) servicing miscellaneous requests for Register

information.

To expedite the processing of present and future Register data, a

machine processing laboratory was established during 1959 at the Reg-

Page 53

ister Records Center operated by North Carolina State College. A pre-

liminary listing contained data collected on some 170,000 scientists

during the period from January 1957 to December 1958.

Preliminary analyses of these data for 1957-58 were started. The

data deal with a wide variety of factors, such as salary, age, level of edu-

cation, field of study, professional specialties, function, type of employer,

and foreign-language facility.

Agreement has been reached with the cooperating scientific societies,

and planning is underway to determine the procedures and schedules

to be used in a 1960 circularization of the scientific community to secure

current information. It is planned that the questionnaire will provide

for updating information on present registrants and complete informa-

tion on new registrants.

Scientific Manpower

Studies

The responsibilities of this activity are to develop data regarding the

supply, demand, training, and characteristics of scientific and technical

personnel, and to provide a central clearinghouse for scientific and tech-

nical manpower information. The Scientific Manpower Studies activity

is the central program in the Federal Government for the provision of

such information.

During fiscal year 1959, the program, by means of funds provided to

other Government agencies and to research organizations, has initiated

a series of projects designed to fill some of the more important gaps in

information. The program has concentrated on four principal areas:

(1) improvement of basic data on scientific and technical personnel;

(2) studies of demand for scientists and engineers; (3) studies in the

selection of scientific and technical vocations; and (4) scientific and

technical manpower in foreign countries.

Among the more important specific projects begun this year were: a

survey of scientific and technical employment in private industry and

State governments; a survey of scientific and technical personnel in col-

leges and universities; a survey of scientists and engineers in Federal Gov-

ernment employment engaged in research (in cooperation with the Civil

Service Commission) ; programs of study of graduate students, by level

and by field; a survey of nonacademic mathematical employment; a

procedural study of the identification of scientific and technical occu-

pations; pilot studies of the demand for scientists and engineers in

several industries; a study of Communist China’s scientific and technical

manpower; and a followup study of college graduates to determine

beginning career patterns.

These projects are in accord with the series of studies recommended

in the Foundation’s report “A Program for National Information on

Page 54

Scientific and Technical Personnel.” This report was prepared in

answer to a Bureau of the Budget request for such a coordinated pro-

gram. One of the recommendations of this report was the following:

To insure prompt, efficient, and thorough implementation of this

program, an appropriate Federal agency should be given specific

responsibility for coordinating the several projects for analyzing the

data produced, and for assuring that the findings will be made

public.

The National Science Foundation, upon request of the Bureau of the

Budget, has agreed to act as the “focal agency” for this responsibility.

During this fiscal year the following reports were completed :

Foreign Language Knowledge of American Scientists, 1954-55.-

Three out of every four scientists included in the National Register of

Scientific and Technical Personnel reported knowledge of at least one

foreign language. The total who reported some competence in a foreign

language was about 97,000 scientists. About 2 percent of these have

some knowledge of Russian, 1 percent of Chinese or Japanese. Such

knowledge for the most part stems largely from nativity and family

background.

German was the language reported most often and French next, obvi-

ously a reflection of educational requirements for scientific training,

particularly at the graduate level. Figure 2 shows the distribution of

the major groups of languages reported by the scientists.

Chemists, chemical engineers, physicists, and astronomers showed a

greater concentration in the Germanic languages; psychologists and

earth scientists, in French and other Romance languages.

Scientists and Engineers in American Industry, January 1957-A Pre-

liminary Report.–American industry employed 738,000 scientists and

engineers as of January 1957 (approximately two-thirds of the national

total)-528,000 engineers, 152,000 scientists, and 58,000 administrators

of scientific and engineering activities. About one-third of these scien-

tists and engineers were engaged in research and development activities.

The largest occupational group by far were the engineers, number-

ing 528,000. Among the scientists, chemists were the most numerous

group-72,000.

Employment in other scientific fields was as follows:

Life scientists (medical, agricultural, and biological), 16,600; earth sci-

entists (geologists and geophysicists primarily), 14,200; physicists and

mathematicians, 12,100 and 12,400, respectively; and metallurgists,

10,800. (See fig. 3)

Engineers and chemists contributed the largest occupational groups

among the 228,000 industrial scientists and engineers engaged in research

Page 55

Tibet0 -Chinese

Balto-Slavic

1.3%

All Other

4% \

\ J

2.4 %

Bolto- Slavic

Tibeto-Chinese.

With mojor

proficiency

3 1,202

30,080

2,929

816

1,928

~gure 2.4orelgn

language knowledge

of American

sdentirtr,

by ma/or

language

9roup,

1954-55.

and development. However, employment in research and development

is of greater relative importance in certain fields, as will be noted from

figure 4. Three-fifths of the physicists were in research and development,

the largest proportion among all the occupational groups.

By major industry group, the aircraft industry employed the greatest

number of research and development scientists, and electrical equipment

the next greatest. The chart below shows t,he number of scientists in all

activities and those in research and development for the major industry

groupa

Page 56

(Thousands)

100

125

150

Electrical ‘Equipmen:

eta1 Products and Ordnance

Primary Metal Products

~~~ 4.6 ~,~~,~;~~,,~..:,~~;:::.;~;~.,.~

:i< 2 g* 5

al and Scientific Instruments

Kindred Products

Research and

Other Activities

er Manufacturing Industries

Figure O.–Schntists

and l ngineerr

in research and development

activities

and in all

activities, by industry, January 1957.

Page 57

I’

ENGINEERS

CHEMISTS

METALLURGISTS

EARTH SCIENTISTS w

PHYSICISTS

MATHEMATICIANS

LIFE SCIENTISTS

OTHER SCIENTISTS .Q

TOTAL

Research and Development

Other Activities

2l The 8moll proportion

of earth

scientists

employed

in research

and development

Work reflect6

the exclurlon

of field exploration

from research

ond development

under the turvey

detinition.

k/Includes

scientists

ond engineers

employed

as odministrotors.

Flgum 4.4ercentages

of scienlisls

and

engineers

in industry

performing

research

and

developmen),

by occupaConal group, January 1957.

Page 58

American Science Manpower-Employment

and Other Characteris-

tics, 29.54-Z.-Of the 116,000 employed scientists listed in the National

ployed in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering. (See

table 2. )

Almost half of the 116,000 scientists were employed in private indus-

try, and nearly one-third by educational institutions. About 44 percent

were engaged in research, development, or field exploration; slightly

less than one-fifth were in management or administration and about the

same proportion in teaching. Almost 8,000 (7 percent) were women.

Table 2 .-Dirlribufion

of all employed scientists,

by field, 1954-S

Employment field

Total-all

fields. …………

Life sciences. ………………..

Agricultural

sciences. ……….

Biological sciences. …………

Medical sciences. ………….

Earth sciences. ……………….

Geology and geophysics. …….

Meteorology.

……………..

Physics and astronomy. ………..

Chemistry and chemical engineering

Chemistry. ……………….

Chemical engineering. ………

Mathematics. ………………..

Engineering, except chemical. ……

Psychology. …………………

Geography ………………….

All other fields l ………………

. .

. . *

. .

. . .

. .

–

AII scientists

Number

Percent

115.775

100.0

24,629

21. 3

8,126

7. 0

15,612

13. 5

891

13,829

12. 0

11,991

10.4

1.838 1

1. 6

11,452

9. 9

40,655

35.0

32,452

28. 0

8,203

7. 0

8,670

7. 5

4,611

4. 0

10,163

8. 8

522

1,244

1. 1

m Includes all other scientific and nonscientific specialties.

Source: National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel, 1954-55.

Scientific Manpower-I958.-Papers

presented at the Seventh Con-

ference on Scientific Manpower, held in conjunction with the AAAS

meeting in Washington, D.C., in December 1958, are included in

papers presented at the symposium on “Demographic and Sociological

Aspects of Scientific Manpower.”

In addition, this program provided much information on scientists and

engineers to the Foundation for planning and operating its programs and

to other Government agencies, many private organizations, and the

general public.

Page 59

EXCHANGE OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

The scientist’s problems regarding information are: How can the

present volume of research results be published promptly? W.hat is being

published of interest to me, where is it, and how can I get it? The

Office of Science Information Service seeks ways and means to answer

these questions by fostering cooperation and coordination of scientific

information activities of Federal agencies and non-Government organ-

izations.

Scientific information has become a major problem, particularly

since World War II, as a result of rapid scientific progress multiplying

the volume of new scientific information beyond the point where it can

be effectively published or handled through existing methods. Accom-

panying this problem there has been an increased consumption of

fundamental science by technology. The scientist needs his information

faster. Formerly the timelag between development of a fundamental

idea and its utilization by technology was measured in tens of years;

now it may be measured in months and weeks.

During the 1959 fiscal year increased interest in this problem by the

President and Congress culminated in the assignment to the Foundation

of greatly expanded responsibilities for leadership in a national effort

to improve the availability of research information to scientists.

The National Defense Education Act of 1958 defined NSF objectives

for providing or arranging for the provision of a wide range of informa-

tion services leading to a more effective dissemination of scientific infor-

mation and the development of new or improved methods, including

mechanized systems, for making scientific information available.

Under the terms of title IX of the act, the Office of Science Informa-

tion Service (OSIS) was established by the Foundation, replacing the

former Office of Scientific Information. The act also provided for the

establishment of a Science Information Council made up of representa-

tives of private industry, education, professional societies, Government,

and others concerned with information problems. The group advises

and makes recommendations to OSIS.

Page 60

: t

OSIS has also established the Federal Advisory Committee on

Scientific Information, composed of senior members of 17 Federal agen-

cies with significant scientific information programs, to coordinate Fed-

eral activities in the field.

Coordination

of Scientific Information

Activities on a National Basis

The Office of Science Information Service has proceeded on the as-

sumption that much is to be gained by close cooperation with, and

support of, existing information services, both public and private, where

they are functioning effectively. This policy is inherent in applicable

language of the National Defense Education Act and was emphasized

strongly in recommendations to the President by his Science Advisory

Committee. Many of the information services rendered by scientific

societies and professional institutions are world famous for their quality.

It is essential that the Federal Government continue to cooperate with

and assist such private groups in maintaining and improving their

specialized services.

Other objectives of OSIS programs are to identify and analyze

strengths and weaknesses of existing information practices; to foster co

operation and coordination among public and private agencies for the

solution of problems in the field; and to encourage and support research

for developing new and improved techniques of information handling.

The four major programs within the Office of Science Information

Service are Documentation Research, Foreign Science Information, Pub-

lications and Information Services, and Unpublished Research Informa-

tion.

In the 1959 fiscal year, 146 grants totaling about $3.8 million were

made; comparable figures for the 1958 fiscal year were 89 grants and

$1.9 million.

Documentation Research

Scientists need new techniques to help them find and digest the ma-

terial they want without time-consuming searches through the literature.

To develop these techniques it is necessary to have a clear understanding

of the actual information requirements of scientists, as well as a precise

knowledge of the ways in which scientists communicate. The Founda-

tion supports research of a fundamental nature that will produce new

knowledge, insights, or techniques for the development of systems to

meet scientists’ information needs.

Page 61

hPlanning

‘Oral or written

D Data Treatment

Data from Care Institute of Technology for N.S.F.-1957-1958

Figure 5.40~

industrial chemists spend their working time.

Support of research by the Documentation Research program falls

into three principal areas: studies of present patterns of scientific com-

munication; the organization and searching of scientific information,

including the development of mechanized systems; and mechanical trans-

lation from one natural language to another.

Studies of Scientists’ Information

Requirements

Two studies of the pattern of scientific communication were completed

during f&al year 1959: The Flow of Information Among Scientists-

Problems, Opportunities,

and Research Questions, prepared by the

Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, and An Oper-

ations Research Study of the Scientific Activity of Chemists, from the

Operations Research Group, Case Institute of Technology. (See fig. 5. )

A subsequent grant has been made to the Bureau of Applied Social

Research at Columbia University for the preparation of a critical review

of all studies to date of scientists’ use of information. The review will

serve to summarize what has been learned so far and to outline questions

and problems needing further study.

Page 62

I I , 1 1

Research on Information

Storage and Retrieval

Several long-range projects in this area are being supported by NSF

grants.

One such grant has been given to the University of Pennsylvania for

an investigation of linguistic transformation for information retrieval, a

continuation of work performed under previous NSF grants. The prom-

ising results of the earlier work have justified the expansion of support.

Among the results thus far achieved is a computable method for recog-

nizing the syntactic structure of English sentences. This has resulted

in an actual program, now working on a Univac computer, for the con-

stituent, or phrase-structure analysis of English sentences.

Short-range storage and retrieval research projects include studies of

the relative efficiency of different systems of classification and indexing,

and a test program to evaluate certain characteristics of the two most

widely used chemical notation systems for structural formulas.

Mechanical

Translation

OSIS is currently supporting research on five mechanical translation

projects, three of which are directed toward procedures for Russian-to-

English translations.

The Harvard Computation Laboratory has in operation a compre-

hensive Russian-to-English automatic dictionary of electronics and math-

ematics. The laboratory is now producing word-for-word translations;

as word order, multiple meaning, and other problems are solved, the

quality of translating will improve. The dictionary is used as a research

tool in a continuing program to achieve fully automatic translation.

At Georgetown University research continues on the mechanical trans-

lation of Russian chemical and French physics texts. Several different

techniques have been developed, including provision for selecting proper

meanings of words and for their rearrangement into English word order.

These techniques are now being tested on general-purpose computers.

A group at the University of California, through linguistic analyses of

an extensive body of Russian text in the field of biochemistry, is develop-

ing a dictionary and translation rules.

Detailed studies of the way in which the German and English lan-

guages function are being made at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-

nology. Such knowledge is believed to be necessary to the achievement

of high-quality mechanical translation.

The Cambridge Language Research Unit in England is studying

the semantic organization of languages to develop procedures for the

mechanical handling of variations of meaning aa well 85 form. These

procedures are being tested first on punched cards.

Page 63

Research Information

Center and Advisory Service on

Information

Processing

Research and development in scientific documentation is growing

at a rapid pace. Projects supported by Foundation grants represent

only a portion of the active work in the field. In order to foster com-

munication among research workers, the Documentation Research Pro-

gram collects and publishes information about these activities. Brief

descriptive accounts of work in progress appear in the semiannual NSF

report, Current Research and Development in Scientific Information.

To extend this clearinghouse service for information in the field, a

Research Information Center and Advisory Service on Information

Processing is being supported at the National Bureau of Standards, with

a portion of the financial support for the center contributed by the Coun-

cil on Library Resources. The center staff has undertaken a continuing

study of available reports and publications about information processing

and will prepare reviews of progress in particular research areas. The

center will provide Federal agencies and cooperating private organiza-

tions with technical advice on problems encountered in research projects

on information processing.

Research Conferences

Support and staff assistance was given to the International Con-

ference on Scientific Information, held in Washington, D.C., in Novem-

ber 1958. At the conference, progress in research on scientific infonna-

tion problems and the need for additional work were discussed. The

conference proceedings will be published by the National Academy

of Sciences.

Foreign Science Information

The Foreign Science Information program is concerned with the

broadest aspects of the international exchange of scientific information.

Thii involves attention to U.S. collections of original foreign research

publications; support of translation and domestic dissemination of for-

eign scientific information; studies of the scientific information systems

and the information resources of other countries; and interchange of

scientific information between the United States and other countries.

Although during 1959 procurement and translation of scientific infor-

mation of Soviet origin continued to be of primary importance, greater

attention was given to increasing our knowledge of scientific achievement

in other countries, including Japan, mainland China, Poland, and

Yugoslavia.

I P

Page 64

Translation

of Russian Scientifk Documents

OSIS, in cooperation with the Office of Naval Research and the

National Bureau of Standards, supported the efforts of 28 professional

societies and academic institutions in cover-to-cover translations of 35

Russian scientific and technical journals and 18 books and monographs,

aa well as special articles and collections of scientific papers. This sup-

port permitted the translation of approximately 70,000 pages of foreign

scientific information, a significant increase over the 1958 support pro-

gram when the 29 journals, 10 books and monographs, and other

materials translated totaled 37,000 pages.

Translation

Centers

Within the Federal Government, interagency cooperation stimulated

by the Foundation led to the establishment of a Foreign Technical Infor-

mation Center in the Office of Technical Services of the Department of

Commerce. This center collects scientific and technical translations

prepared by Government agencies, announces their availability, and

provides copies to the public on request.

In the interest of further reinforcing a cooperative national attack

on the translation problem, the Foreign Science Information program

continued its support of the Special Libraries Association Translation

Center at the John Crerar Library in Chicago. SLA collects transla-

tions from non-Government sources and forwards them to the Depart-

ment of Commerce for announcement simultaneously with Government-

prepared translations.

In January 1959 the Office of Technical Services began issuance of

a semimonthly publication entitled Technical Translations, w,hich pro-

vides a central source of information in the United States on translated

technical literature available to science and industry. It lists and ab-

stracts translations available from the Office of Technical Services, The

Special Libraries Association Translation Center, cooperating foreign

governments, educational institutions, and private sources.

Special Information

Resources

Support was also given to the Midwest Interlibrary Center (MILC)

for continuation of its program of building a comprehensive collection

: I

* of foreign chemical and biological serial publications to serve as a

national as well as a regional resource.

Studies and Surveys

Information studies on the organization and characteristics of scien-

tific information and information systems in all nations which conduct

research are underway. These include studies of Poland by the New

Page 65

York Public Library and of Japan and Indonesia by the Pacific Science

Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Similar studies are being

developed for the U.S.S.R., mainland China, Czechoslovakia, Yugo-

slavia, Hungary, Korea, and other countries.

Oversoa Activities

OSIS has played an important role in improving coordination with

international scientific information activities. Help is being given to *

the European Productivity Agency in a study of the feasibility of estab- I

lishing a Pan-European Translation Center to collect and organize

translations of Eastern European and Oriental scientific literature from

Western Europe.

The Foundation, as directed by the Bureau of the Budget and the 1

President, is responsible for the coordination and administration of

budget estimates and programs for scientific information activities un-

dertaken overseas by Federal agencies using foreign currencies accruing

under Public Law 480, 836 Congress. A total of $1.2 million was

appropriated by Congress for this purpose. Although certain adminis-

trative difficulties exist, the Public Law 480 program offers an oppor- !

tunity for a notable increase in the quantity of foreign publications and

translations available in the United States. A contract for such a

program in Israel became effective April 24, 1959, and about 10,000

pages of foreign scientific and technical materials are currently in

process of translation there.

In May 1959, OSIS representatives visited Poland to negotiate a

contract which provides for the translation and publication of an aver-

age of 500 copies of 19,000 pages of Polish scientific and technical

information. It is expected that a contract will be negotiated with

Yugoslavia. Feasibility surveys will be conducted in India.

Publications and Information Services

The Publications and Information Services program supports a i

variety of scientific publications; data and reference centers; and experi-

ments, studies, surveys, and conferences. This support is to aid the

dissemination of scientific information by helping to maintain, improve,

and expand present means of publication, and by helping to establish *

and maintain information centers that provide scientists with specialized

reference service.

Support of Scientific Publications

During 1959, grants were made in support of primary research jour-

nals to launch new publications and to aid existing periodicals. The

former included two experimental publications: Wildlife

Disease, the

Page 66

r , I I !

Two significant grants in this area were made during 1959. The first

was for continued support to the Office of Critical Tables of the National

Academy of Sciences. This office is an information and coordinating

center for projects engaged in developing critical physical data of all

kinds. The second grant of this kind was to the Biosciences Information

Exchange administered by the Smithsonian Institution and jointly sup-

ported by a number of Government agencies. The exchange functions

a~ a repository of knowledge on “who is working on what” in the bi-

530047–80–Q

first research journal to be issued solely in microform (Microcard in this

case) ; and Physical Review Letters, an experiment in rapid low-cost pub-

lication of short, up-to-the-minute articles on physics research. Typical

of other new periodicals supported is the Journal of Geophysical Re-

search; here the NSF grant assures publication for 2 years during which

time it is believed the journal can become self-supporting, Representa-

tive of the existing primary journals receiving support in 1959 is Cenet-

its; in this case the grant is for the publication of an accumulated backlog

of papers as a separate volume. Other journals have received tem-

porary support to enable them to publish cumulative indexes or to insure

publication while regular income is being adjusted to meet sudden in-

creases in costs or the need for immediate expansion of coverage.

Grants also were made in support of abstracting and indexing services.

Typical is the grant made to Biological Abstracts to enable it to improve

the adequacy of its coverage. Other reasons for such grants include

supporting a new service until it can build up its regular income, permit-

ting reorganization of a service to improve its effectiveness, and covering

a financial crisis caused by a sudden rise in costs or the need to offer

a temporary specialized service. Consultation with the National Federa-

tion of Science Abstracting and Indexing Services (formed in January

1958 with NSF support) aids in achieving coordination and consistency

of overall pattern. The policy of temporary support only is applied here

also; however, the periods of subsidy are somewhat longer than in the

case of primary journals because costs are higher and possible sources

of income are fewer.

Recognizing that good critical reviews constitute one of the most im-

portant-and most neglected-forms of scientific publications, the Publi-

cations and Information Services program made its first extensive grant

in thii area in December 1958. Under this grant four series of review

papers are being prepared in physics, varying from comprehensive tech-

nical reviews of major area of the field to short, semitechnical synopses

of limited subject scope.

Support of Information

Services

Page 67

‘I

)

ological sciences and offers reference service on its holdings to al

participating groups.

Studies and Surveys

Studies are being made to provide yardstick information for use n

evaluation of proposals and to direct the way to improved publication

and other dissemination methods. One is developing a breakdown o

scientific reading habits of chemists and physicists in terms of the kind

of material covered and specific journals read. Other investigation

underway concern the membership, dues, and publication structure c

professional scientific societies; the editorial subscription and productio:

practices of scientific journals; publication climate in industries engage1

in basic research; an analysis by the American Institute of Physics of tb

overall publication picture in physics; and a somewhat preliminary stud

in the biological field being conducted by the American Institute of Bit

logical Sciences.

.e i

Unpublished Research Information

The principal concern of the other programs of OSIS is with the dir

semination of domestic and foreign scientific information generate

through conventional publications channels. The Unpublished Researc

Information (URI) program seeks to increase the accessibility of UI.

classified, unpublished research information. The major sources of sue:

information are research reports and memoranda of Government an’

private institutions, theses, dissertations and papers resulting from scier

tific conferences. This material frequently contains significant scientifi

information not otherwise found in published sources.

The development of the program and its accomplishments to da1

have been governed by two general precepts: attain systematic di!

semination of unclassified research information not generated throug

conventional publications channels; and encourage the flow of such ir

formation to these channels.

Clearinghouse activities involving direct literature search service lz

OSIS were transferred to the Office of Technical Services, Department (

Commerce, and to the Science and Technology Division of the Library (

Congress.

Preliminary investigation was made of the feasibility of establishing

center, similar to the federally supported Bio-Sciences Information E:

change, for handling mathematical, physical, and engineering inform;

tion generated by Government or federally sponsored projects. A sin&

study was made of the problem of handling materials information an

data. Increasing attention will be given to these kinds of studies as tl

program develops.

100

‘Y

a t

Y-

ax-

Page 68

Inventory of Government

Scientific Reporting

In 1959 the Foundation, through the URI Program, accelerated its

efforts to survey information activities of Federal agencies operating

major scientific information programs. Bulletin No. 1 of the series,

Scientific Information

Activities of Federal Agencies, covering the

information activities of the Department of Agriculture, was published

in November 1958. Bulletin No. 2, released in June 1959, reported

such activities for the Office of Naval Research.

Unpublished

Research Reports

In 1959 continued support was given by a grant to the Office of

Technical Services (OTS) of the Department of Commerce to increase

the availability of unclassified Government research reports to the

Nation’s scientists and engineers.

A grant was made to the Library of Congress for continued support

to enable it to expand further its reference collection of Government

research reports and to provide reference and bibliographic services to

insure accessibility of this information to the scientific community.

Other Activities

The OSIS responsibility for conducting the U.S. scientific exhibits

program at the Brussels World’s Fair was concluded in 1959. During

the year a number of these exhibits were installed at the Chicago

Museum of Science and Industry.

Other exhibits were prepared for use at meetings of scientific organ-

izations where the problems of scientific information dissemination and

programs for improvement in the field were topics of discussion.

To provide an effective means for the exchange of information among

groups working in the scientific information field, the Office of Science

Information Service began publication of a bimonthly news bulletin,

Science Information

News,, in February 1959. The bulletin reports

national and international developments and, it is hoped, will promote

cooperation and coordination among scientific information services,

Initial reaction indicates this bulletin fills a widespread need.

Providing U.S. Scientists With Soviet Scientific Information,

pub-

lished during the fiscal year, describes the overall U.S. effort to make

available Russian scientific publications, translations, abstracts, indexes,

and bibliographies. It also contains a reference list of 76 Russian

journals currently being translated into English.

Current Research and Development in Scientific Documentation, No.

4, describes projects here and abroad in information requirements and

uses, research on information storage and retrieval, mechanical tram-

lation, and in equipment development.

101

Page 69

SURVEYS OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

EFFORT

A major Foundation responsibility is the measurement and appraisal

of the total research and development effort. Each sector of the

economy, pursuing its own interests, contributes its part to the whole

effort. As a Federal agency, the Foundation is in a position to view the

condition of the Nation with regard to its entire research and develop-

ment activity. This view aids in the formulation of national science

policy and the establishment of internal policies for the Foundation’s

programs in research and education.

The NSF Act of 1950 provided for such a mission in directing it to

develop recommendations regarding national science policies. The

President’s Executive Order of March 1954 specifically directed it “to

make comprehensive studies and recommendations regarding the

Nation’s scientific research and its resources for scientific activities” and

to appraise “the impact of research upon industrial development and

upon the general welfare.”

Importance

of Research and Development

in the Economy

Scientific research and development, recognized for its part in achiev-

ing military objectives, is now being appraised for its significance as a

national activity in our economic system. This recognition was more

forcefully realized with the Foundation’s estimate for 1957 of $10

billion for research and development in the country as a whole with the

employment of more than 300,000 scientists and engineers.

Referred to as the “industry of discovery,” research and development

activity in the United States has in recent years expanded more rapidly

than many other industries. Expenditures for this purpose rose from

more than $2 billion 1 in 1947 to $5.2 billion 2 in 1953 and to the

previously mentioned $10 billion in 195 7.

That this upward trend will persist is indicated by the fact that the

1957-58 recession failed to halt its growth. Perhaps contributing to

the continued increase is a new public awareness, created by the Soviet

1 Department of Defense.

Office of the Secretary of Defense (R&D), The Growth

of Scientific Research and Development.

Washington 25, DC., 1953, p. 10.

’ National

Science Foundation.

Reviews of Data on Research B Development,

No, 1, “Expenditures

for Research and Development

in the United States, 1953.”

Washington 25, DC., 1956.

102

Page 70

satellite launchings, of the need for continuing research and development.

Many have realized that research and development contributes sig-

nificantly to our domestic policy of maintaining a healthy economy. But

until the past few years the intrinsic effects of research and develop-

ment on the growth of the economy and on maintaining its level had

only been vaguely explored. The theory that research and development

acts in this way on the economy has been expounded by the late Prof.

Sumner Slichter of Harvard University. He has stated that techno-

logical research leads to increased demand for goods, which in turn raises

production and thereby acts as a source of greater income. Thus,

research has a dynamic as well as a stabilizing effect. Research and

development acts in this manner primarily because we have a free

enterprise system. The competition by industry to bring about the

innovations and new products as a result of research is responsible for

these overall effects on the economy.

Thus, research and development also influences the competition among

nations, extending to all levels, the military and civilian, i.e., competi-

tion with regard to weapons systems as well as to standards of living.

Dr. Waterman, at the hearings before the Joint Economic Committee

of the Congress in February 1959, testified: “The real point is that we

are competing with the Soviet Union for the future . . . the economic

implications of research and development are of a long-range nature.

What we do now in planning our research and development effort, in

giving it adequate support, may determine not only our own future but

the future of the world as well.”

The importance of research and development requires that ways be

found to measure this effort. To do this it is necessary to obtain detailed

data, which in turn will permit closer analysis of the effects of research

and development.

Survey Program and Related Analytical

Studies of the Foundation

Two measurements of the research and development effort are ( 1)

dollars expended and (2) manpower employed. In the late 1930’s

and during the 1940’s, statistics were primarily broad estimates of total

volume of expenditures and manpower. Some of these estimates were

prepared by the National Research Project of the Work Projects Ad-

ministration, the National Resources Planning Board, the Office of

Scientific Research and Development, the President’s Scientific Research

Board, and the Research and Development Board of the Department of

Defense.

The Foundation’s Office of Special Studies, benefiting from this

earlier work, approached the problem of measurement on a systematic

103

Page 71

and comprehensive basis. The economy was divided into four “sec-

tars”-Federal Government, industry, colleges and universities, and other

nonprofit institutions.

Data are compiled in terms of both sources of funds and pet-forma

of research and development for all four sectors. This permits analysis

of intersectoral relations and the construction of a transfer table showing

the flow of funds for support of work by the sectors to others for the

conduct of research, as well as for the basic research performed and/or

supported by each sector.’

Surveys are conducted in each sector, largely by means of question-

naires either directly by the Foundation’s staff or by contractual agree-

ment with another Federal agency or outside institution. For the

Federal sector and for most groups in the nonprofit sector, the surveys

aimed for complete coverage; sampling was used for industrial firms

and smaller philanthropic foundations.

The first comprehensive round of surveys covering the year 1953-54

was completed, with full reports issued covering the individual surveys

in each sector. The data have been combined into an overall estimate

for the country. This necessarily experimental series indicated defi-

ciencies to be met, or at least acknowledged, for some of these are in-

herent in the subject matter, and laid the foundation for a permanent

survey program.

The purposes served by the current program of statistical surveys are

twofold, one being to supply a sufficient amount of information for

analysis, and the other to formulate a statistical time series summarizing

annual fluctuations in research and development activity. The demands

on the Foundation to supply data on research and development activi-

ties have been great, and as a result continual updating of information

is planned. A detailed survey of each sector will be conducted once

every 4 or 5 years. In the intervening years only summary data will be

collected, largely for the purpose of developing the time series. How-

ever, owing to the current interest in research and development data,

this plan for the present has been modified to make the summary surveys

somewhat more detailed in nature, but eventually it is hoped to confine

them to total figures. In this way, adequate data on research and

development will be available for each sector as well as for the country

as a whole.

‘National

Science Foundation.

Reviews of Data on Research 8, D#vrtogmsnt,

No. 1. “Expenditurea

for Research and Development

in the United States, 1953.”

Washington 25, D.C., 1956; Reviews of Data on Research d Development,

No. 5.

“Fund8 for Basic Research in the United States, 1953.” Washington 25, D.C., 1957.

104

Page 72

Emerging from the data collection have come the tools for shaping

analytical studies. Like the factfinding studies, they are the means for

achieving the objectives and they continue to build the basis for guidance

in policy matten and “appraising the impact of research on the general

welfare.”

Total National Activity

Based on its sectoral surveys, the Foundation estimates that research

and development activity in 1956 totaled about $8.5 billion. In terms

of “sources of funds” and “performers” of research and development, in-

dustry performed 76 percent of the total dollar volume and supplied 38

percent of thii national total from its own funds. The Federal Govern-

ment was the major source of funds, supplying 59 percent in addition

to the 38 percent from industry, and the remainder came from colleges

and universities and other nonprofit organizations. In interpreting these

data, it should be borne in mind that the bulk of this amount represents

development customarily performed by industry and largely financed by

the Federal Government to meet its military objectives.

Knowledge regarding basic research, a foremost concern of the Foun-

dation, is also gained from these surveys. Such information is useful to

the internal formulation of policy. Here again the overall figures for

1956 show the Federal Government to be the major source of funds; the

colleges and universities maintain their traditional position as primary

performers of basic research.

From these surveys ensued some of the studies and actions dealing with

the impact on the economy of research and development activity as out-

lined below.

(a) As a start in the direction of exploring this activity, a conference

was held dealing with “Research and Development and Its Impact on

the Economy” in the spring of 1958 which resulted in publication of the

Proceedings.’

(b) On the same subject was the Director’s presentation, quoted pre-

viously, before the Joint Economic Committee. An abridged vetsion of

his remarks was published in the NSF series, Reviews of Data on Research

d Development, No. 13, “Research and Development and Economic

Growth,” in which Dr. Waterman stated :

More and more emphasis is being given to research and develop

ment in the analysis of long-term growth as compared to the some-

what more traditional factors, particularly capital expenditures and

‘National

Science Foundation, Procredings of a Conference on Research and De-

trclopment and Its Impact on the Economy.

Washington 25, DC.: Supt. of Docu-

ments, U.S. Government Printing Oftice, 1958.

105

Page 73

population. The 1959 Economic Report of the President has called

attention to the extremely important role that research and develop-

ment contributes to the growth of the economy.

Research and Development, 2959.–The survey of projects pertaining to

analysis of the impact of research and development to date has been

limited to colleges and universities. Over 100 projects were reported

by 54 of the 140 responding institutions. Under the title shown above,

publication of an inventory of these projects is planned for the fall of 1959.

This survey may be extended to research institutes and privately endowed

foundations.

(d) Bibliography on the Economic and Social Implications of ‘Sci-

entific Research and Development.-A

selected annotated bibliography

has been prepared. It is intended to provide references representative

of typical approaches to the study of research and development, and to

serve as a guide for further investigation.

(e) Conference on Economic Analysis of Research and Develop-

merit.-In

the spring of 1959 a 2-day symposium was held, convoking

analysts from industrial firms and universities to present informal papers

on their inquiries into the research process. The symposium was mutu-

ally fruitful to participants in providing a channel for communications

and constructive critical discussion of the work in their fields.

Federal Government

During the fiscal year 1959 the Foundation published Federal Funds

for Science, VZZ-The

Federal Research and Development Budget,

Fiscal Years 1957,1958, and 1959 based on data reported to the Founda-

tion in the spring of 1958 by t,he Federal agencies participating in the

Government’s research and development programs. The President sub-

sequently submitted supplemental requests for additional appropriations

which had not been included in the budget for both fiscal years 1958 and

1959. Congress, recognizing the needs of science, in several cases in-

creased funds for scientific research and development by a substantial

amount over the original budget estimates.

Reviews of Data on Research & Development, No. 12, “Recent

Legislative and Executive Actions on the Federal Budget for Scientific

Research and Development, Fiscal Years 1958 and 1959,” presented

preliminary information on the extent of the major changes in the

estimated obligations which were published in the seventh issue of

Federal Funds for Science.

During the year, a survey was conducted of obligations and ex-

penditures for scientific research and development for fiscal years 1958,

106

Page 74

1959, and 1960. Among the changes introduced in reporting the

Survey, the most important in terms of the overall totals, relates to the

expanded definition of development w.hich now corresponds to the

definition used in current surveys of the other sectors. Table 3 sum-

marizes estimated obligations for fiscal year 1959.

With respect to the manpower studies of the Federal sector, the data

on research and development personnel were collected as a part of a

larger survey by the U.S. Civil Service Commission.

Table 3 .-Estlmafod

Federal Obligations

for Conduct of Research and Dwolopment,

Flscd

Year 1959

[Millions of dollars]

Agency

Total, all agencies. ……………………………….

$7,233

Department of Agriculture.

……………………………..

119

Department of Commerce. ………………………………

Department of Defense b …………………………………

5,581

Department of the Army. ……………………………

(992)

Department of the Navy. ……………………………

(1,249)

Department of the Air Force. …………………………

(2,738)

Advanced Research Projects Agency. ………………….

(427)

Departmentwide

funds ………………………………

(175)

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. ………………

244

National Institutes of Health. …………………………

(212)

Department of the Interior. ……………………………..

Atomic Energy Commission. …………………………….

773

National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

……………..

303

National Science Foundation.

……………………………

Allothcragencies

……………………………………..

8 These estimates were published in Federal Funds for Science, VIII-The

Federal Re-

search and Dcvclopmcnt Budget, Fiscal Tears 1958, 1959, and 7950.

b Data reflect revised appropriation

structure for research and development.

Totals

include pay and allowances of military personnel in research and development, scpa-

rately identified procurement funds in support of R, D, T, & E, as well as the Re-

search, Development, Test, and Evaluation appropriations.

NOTE: Detail will not necessarily add to totals because of rounding.

Estimated

obligations,

Industry

Two previous surveys of research and development performance by

private firms were sponsored by the National Science Foundation and

were conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of

107

Page 75

Labor. The first survey covered the years 1953-54 ’ and the second

1956.6 Pmhmimuy figures on costs and manpower were released on

the 1956 survey. A detailed report containing final revised figures is in

the process of publication.

The 1957 survey was conducted by the Bureau of the Census in order

that research and development data could be related to other economic

statistics collected by that agency. A detailed survey covering the year

1958 is currently underway, being conducted also by the Bureau of the

CeIlSUS.

Preliminary returns from the 1957 survey were released in the fall

of 1959 in Reviews of Dota on Research B Development, No. 14,

“Funds for Research and Development Performance in American Indus-

try, 1957.” For overall comparisons the Foundation has estimated the

funds for total industrial research and development performance for the

5 years 1953-57 as presented in figure 6.

Colleges and Universities

The final report of a Foundation survey of colleges and universities

was issued in December 1958, Scientific Research and Development in

Colleges and Universities-Expenditures

and Manpower, 1953-54.

survey for the year 1957-58 is now underway, this one being conducted

for the Foundation by the U.S. Office of Education. The rapid growth

of Federal financial support of scientific research and development at

institutions of higher education during the postwar period has raised

a number of issues of national education and science policy. Among

these issues are:

(a) Relative responsibilities of Federal and non-Federal sources

for financing academic research.

(6) Relationship of federally sponsored research to the issue

of Federal aid to higher education.

sponsoring Federal agencies.

(d) The effects of Federal sponsorship of research upon the

balance of institutional activities as between research and instruc-

tion. (For example, is Federal support of research tending to drive

“Science and Engineering

in American Industry.

Final Report on a 1953-54

Survey. Prepared for the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of

Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Washington 25, D.C.: Supt. of Documents, U.S.

Government Printing Office, 1956.

’ National Science Foundation.

Reviews of Data on Research d Development,

No. 10, “Research and Development

Costs in American Industry, 1956.” Washing-

ton 2.5, D.C., 1958.

108

Page 76

Billions

of dollars

‘3

1954 1955

1956 1957

%~m

L–Funds

for research and development

perfomred

by private

industrial

firms,

1953-57

NOTE: Data for each year are l xprorsod in terms of current dollars.

(a) Funds shown here are for private industrial firms, i.e., principally

manufacturing

and

other Industrial tlrms which account for more than 90 percent of the total amount for the

“Industry

sector” as a whole.

Also Included in the sector as defined by NSF (but not

represented

In the chart) are independent

commercial

laboratories,

trade associations,

and

meanh

centers operated by private Industrial organizations

under contract with the Federal

Government.

faculty out of teaching and into research because of better oppor-

tunities for promotion?)

(G) The effects of Federal sponsorship upon the balance among

the institutional research activities, e.g., as between natural and

social sciences and between the sciences and the humanities.

(f ) The &e&s of Federal contracts for applied research and

development upon basic research.

(g) Use of the research center as an institutional device for

attaining research objectives of Federal agencies.

(h) Responsibilities of Federal agencies for paying indirect costs

of sponsored research.

An assessment of these problems requires facts on the total re-

search and development effort carried on at institutions of higher

education, the proportion federally financed, the trends in Federal

support by agencies, field of science, character of work, etc. (See

figures7and8.)

109

Page 77

!Sepamtely

Budgeted

Full-time EquiwAents

Rb 0 Expendltwes

Engaged in R 8 D

Petwnl DbtrlMbn

Percent cxstrlbutbe

6D 3D 40 30 20

IO 20 30 40 30

Physical Sdmces.. . . .

Psychology. . . . . . . . . .

Sadal sciences . . .

Ufe Sciences . . . .

BiOlogl00l (Including

Ndlcal preclinlcol)

. . .

abtkal . . . . . . . . . . .

…………..

Figun 7.—Jeparately

budgeted

research and development

in colleges and universities

proper, 1953-54.

Comparison

of expenditures

and faculty, by tlefd of science.

NOTE Excludes data on agricultuml

sciences.

la) Sepamtely

budgeted research and development

includes both research and develop

ment sponsored by outside agencies and that supported by “earmarked”

university funds.

tb) Due to varying response factors, the institutlonal

covemge of expenditure

and man-

power data Is not completely comparable.

Within the scope of the 190 large colleges and

unlvenltles

surveyed, ,173 schools reported on expenditures

and 180 repotted on manpower.

The chati Is based on the schools reporting on both items.

110

Page 78

Millions

Dollars

500

250

200

100

-Foundations

-Defense

——___

–

-,.

–

$19

,.i,

–

539

.. – Heollh, Education

and Welfare

.:. ,…

::,,

–

—

-Atomic

Energy

:…”

Commision

-m

Fedeml agency

&$q

other sources

Figure 8 .–Total

cost of research and development

at colleges and universities,

by sowce

of support, fiscal year 1954.’

’ Includes colleges and universities

proper, agricultural

experiment

staHons, and Federal

research cenkrs.

’ Includes gifts and grants, ond other private sources.

’ Includes Staclte and local government funds.

’ Includes health agencies.

111

Page 79

Data obtained from the Foundation’s 1953-54 survey of research

and development at colleges and univexsities have contributed sig-

nificantly to policy recommendations developed by the Foundation with

respect to a number of the above problems.’

Other Nonprofit Institutions

Repeating the 1953-54 surveys of private foundations, research insti-

tutes, health agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, the Foundation

has utilized the services of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of

Labor Statistics, to collect data on expenditures and personnel for the

year 1957. Privately endowed foundations reported $71.5 million for

support of research and development in that year, 67 percent of which

was characterized as basic research. Health agencies reported $23

million, 47 percent of which was basic research, mostly in the life sciences.

’ See the following reports: National Science Foundation.

Govrmmsnt-Univrrsity

Ralationships in Fudcrally Sponsorad Scientific Russarch and DUVUlOfimUnk

Wash-

ing 25, D.C.: Superintendent

of Documents, U.S. Government

Printing Office,

1958; and Fudsral Financial Support of Physical Facilitirs and Major Equipmant

for

thr Conduct of Scientific Russarch.

Washington 25, D.C. : National Science Founda-

tion, 1957.

I 112

Page 80

SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

International Geophysical Year

Geneml

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957-58, the worldwide

cooperative program in geophysical research conducted by 66 nations,

came to a close on December 3 1, 1958. By this date there had success-

fully been completed 18 months of scientific observations begun on July 1,

1957.

The planning and execution of the U.S. portion of the IGY program

were conducted by the U.S. National Committee for the IGY, National

Academy of Sciences. Funding and coordination of Government inter-

ests were provided by the National Science Foundation.

Summary of Preliminary

Results of the IGY

The data for the IGY are so extensive that it will take years to extract

all the valuable material contained therein. Nevertheless, a large

number of significant preliminary results have already been recorded.

A comprehensive report on these results for the entire l&month

period of the IGY was presented to the Subcommittee on Independent

Offices of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives,

in February 1959, by members of the U.S. National Committee for the

IGY and its technical panels, and is available in published form. The

preliminary results covered in detail in the report can only briefly be

mentioned here.

As a part of the IGY, the sun was subjected to the most comprehensive

and detailed examination ever given by man to any extraterrestrial object.

Solar manifestations were looked at both to discover more about the

processes that occur in the sun, and to try to correlate these manisfesta-

tions with the complex phenomena that occur in the earth’s atmosphere.

113

Page 81

Every variety of geophysical instrument, including rockets and satel-

lites, was used in the total IGY examinations. It is probably safe to say

that every available vehicle was used by the farflung parties of scientists

in the accomplishment of their missions.

Of the many measurements and accomplishments of the series of IGY

satellites, two outstanding ones may be mentioned. With respect to

instrumentation carried aloft by satellites, the identification of the Van

Allen Radiation Belt is probably the most significant. Man has now

established the fact that the earth is surrounded by two great dough-

nut-shaped zones of trapped charged particles at distances in the plane

of the geomagnetic equator of about 6004,000 and 8,000-l 2,000 miles

altitude. Further, it has been established that for a given altitude this

radiation is most intense in low geomagnetic latitudes and is much re-

duced at polar latitudes, and that it has a distribution relationship to

the earth’s magnetic field. A second significant preliminary finding

resulted from careful ground-based observations of the Vanguard I

satellite orbit and complicated calculations based upon the orbital data.

An important contribution to geodesy was made by these calculations,

as they permitted a refinement of our knowledge of the distribution of

mass of the earth, indicating a slight excess in mass in the Southern

Hemisphere over that in the Northern Hemisphere.

By means of rockets and balloons, important deviations between the

latitude energy distribution of cosmic rays impinging upon the earth

and the structure of the earth’s magnetic field have been detected.

Similarly, terrestrial magnetic field measurements tend to verify the

existence of a strong electricai current in the high atmosphere above

the earth’s magnetic equator. Still further, the earth’s magnetic field has

been demonstrated to maintain a detectable influence far into space.

This came as a consequence of studies of ionospheric phenomena called

whistlers, which originate from atmospheric electrical disturbances

that propagate along paths guided by the force of the earth’s magnetic

field.

The diurnal and seasonal variations of the ionosphere also demon-

strate the close relations among solar variations and terrestrial responses.

Careful and prolonged measurements of the aurora enable still closer

identification of solar radiation and solar particle output and the re-

sultant upper atmospheric consequences. An additional significant find-

ing derived from the examination of these solar-terrestrial phenomena

114

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is that the sun’s corona appears to be of great extent and that the earth

itself may be immersed in this extremely tenuous material.

The sun’s effects are not, however, confined to the earths atmosphere.

The liquid and solid portions of the earth respond to the energy in which

they are bathed, and react between themselves and with the atmosphere

as a gigantic heat engine with two fluids. And even the solid earth

responds to the sun in the measurable form of the earth tides. The

earths intake and output of energy, primarily from the sun, are remark-

ably stable. The energy exchanges between the atmosphere and the

oceans are on a vast scale. The circulation of winds and waters effects

the exchanges necessary for this stability.

The understanding of meteorological phenomena will have been ad-

vanced immeasurably when the IGY data have been completely ana-

lyzed. In the oceans-our last terrestrial frontier-new currents and

deep countercurrents have been identified and measured. The exchanges

of gases, such as carbon dioxide, between the waters and the atmosphere

have been measured all over the world, and as a result it has been estab-

lished that the distribution of carbon dioxide gas is remarkably constant

throughout the world. All the world’s important glaciers and ice de-

posits have been measured and probed to complete the data that man

must have in order to promote climatological research on its necessary

long-time scale, and future similar measurements from time to time will

yield epochal knowledge.

The first serious large-scale scientific examinations of the Antarctic

form a noteworthy part of the IGY program. Tremendous depths of

ice, up to 14,000 feet, were probed by seismic means and give for the first

time an indication of the actual size of the Antarctic ice deposit. First

mappings of the structure under the icecap were made. Many upper

atmospheric measurements were completed and preliminarily substanti-

ate the belief that cosmic rays are distributed in the Southern Hemisphere

in the same fashion as they have been measured in the Northern Hemi-

sphere. The simultaneity and general frequency of auroral occurrences

in both hemispheres were established.

Meteorology particularly benefited from the investigations in the Ant-

arctic where, until the IGY, meteorological knowledge was scant and

upper air observations almost nonexistent. The Antarctic is the only

place on earth where the ocean waters perform earth circuits without

continental or other interruptions and where a high, frigid continent

underlies a very large-scale circulation system.

680047-60-10

115

Page 83

The earth’s crust and interior were also subjected to careful scrutiny.

Seismic stethoscopes measured natural and manmade disturbances of

vibrations in the earth, both on land and at sea, and measured strains and

deformations in the earth’s crust. Mountain roots were in some cases

found to penetrate through the earth’s crust deeply into the mantle.

Measurements of the value of gravity are tying in hitherto incomplete

gravity networks and revealing mass distribution and maas anomalies.

The data now gathering in IGY World Data Centers will spur man’s

imagination concerning his entire world as never before. The continuing

use of this data, and its vast research value, far outweighs the cost of the

IGY effort and should greatly accelerate the pace of research in relevant

areas.

World Data Centers

In accordance with agreements reached by the nations participating in

the IGY, the data resulting from observations are being collected in three

World Data Centers: World Data Center A, located in the United

States; World Data Center B, established in the U.S.S.R.; and World

Data Center C, maintained by eight nations of Western Europe, Japan,

and Australia. If received by only one of the World Data Centers, data

are immediately copied and sent to the other two centers so that three

complete sets of IGY data will be in existence for the use of interested

scientists in all parts of the world. Any individual or institution may

obtain copies of the data from a center at a nominal sum to cover repro-

duction costs.

A third 6-monthly catalog of data was prepared by all IGY World

Data Centers in January 1959. A fourth catalog will be prepared by

September 1959. For each discipline, one of the Data Centers (A, B,

or C) has the responsibility of preparing a final catalog of IGY data

held by the IGY World Data Centers. The schedule for production of

these catalogs varies considerably from discipline to discipline; it is ex-

petted that catalogs for most disciplines will be prepared by the end

of 1960.

World Data Center A has been organized into 11 archives for different

IGY disciplines located in various parts of the United States, with a

Central Coordination Office in Washington, D.C., directed by the Na-

tional Academy of Sciences. The locations of the 11 archives follow:

1. IGY World Data Center A : Airglow and Ionosphere; Central

Radio Propagation Laboratory, National Bureau of Standards,

Boulder, Colo.

2. IGY World Data Center A: Aurora (Instrumental) ; Geo-

physical Institute, University of Alaska, College, Alaska.

116

Page 84

3. IGY World Data Center A : Aurora (Visual) ; Rockefeller

Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

4. IGY World Data Center A: Cosmic Rays; School of Physics,

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 14, Minn.

5. IGY World Data Center A: Geomagnetism, Gravity, and

Seismology; Geophysics Division, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,

Washington 25, D.C.

6. IGY World Data Center A: Glaciology; American Geo-

graphical Society, Broadway at 156th Street, New York 32, N.Y.

7. IGY World Data Center A: Longitude and Latitude; U.S.

Naval Observatory, Washington 25, D.C.

8. IGY World Data Center A: Meteorology and Nuclear Radia-

tion; National Weather Records Center, Asheville, N.C.

9. IGY World Data Center A: Oceanography; Department of

Oceanography and Meteorology, Agricultural & Mechanical Col-

lege of Texas, College Station, Tex.

10. IGY World Data Center A: Rockets and Satellites; National

Academy of Sciences, 2 101 Constitution Avenue NW., Washing-

ton 25, D.C.

11. IGY World Data Center A: Solar Activity; High Altitude

Observatory, Boulder, Colo.

Communications regarding data interchange matters in general and

World Data Center A as a whole should be addressed to: Director,

World Data Center A, National Academy of Sciences, 2 101 Constitu-

tion Avenue NW., Washington 25, D.C. Inquiries and communications

concerning data in specific disciplines should be addressed to the ap

propriate archive listed above.

Publications based on IGY observational data are being issued under

a disciplinary report series by the appropriate archives and a general

report series by the Coordination Office.

Moscow Meeting of the CSAGl

The fifth reunion of the Comid Sptcial de l’Annee Gtophysique

Internationale (CSAGI) , the international planning body for the IGY,

was held in Moscow in July and August 1958. The four principal

matters taken up by the CSAGI Moscow Assembly were ( 1) a review

of the accomplishments of the first two-thirds of the IGY; (2) the ques-

tion of the future of international cooperation in geophysics after the

end of the IGY; (3) the problem of the collection, storage, and catalog-

ing of data at the World Data Centers; and (4) the question of publica-

tion of IGY data and results.

A review of the accomplishments of the IGY was achieved largely

through symposia in the various disciplines. Results reported by the

117

Page 85

United States and the U.S.S.R. on their work in rockets and satellites

were of particular interest.

International

Geophysical

Cooperation-1959

The question of the future of international cooperation in geophysics

after the end of the IGY was given emphasis at the Moscow Assembly,

where a proposal was introduced by the Soviet delegation to extend the

entire IGY program for an additional year. The final decision on this

proposal reached by the assembly was to recommend the continuation

of geophysical research only in certain fields under a program to be

known as “International Geophysical Cooperation, 1959” (IGC-1959).

Included among the recommendations for continued cooperative work

were a world magnetic survey, a limited solar activities program, Ant-

arctic research, oceanographic studies, and rocket and satellite observa-

tions. The CSAGI recommendation for International Geophysical Co-

operation-1959 was subsequently adopted by the International Coun-

cil of Scientific Unions, the parent body of the CSAGI. Participation

in the program is on a voluntary basis at national levels.

The National Science Foundation has accepted in principle the pro-

posed program for continuation of international participation in geo-

physical sciences in 1959. Research proposals supported by the Founda-

tion’s Division of Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences

represent US. contributions to the continuation of international partici-

pation in geophysical sciences in 195 9.

Anlnals of the IGY

At the Moscow Assembly of the CSAGI it was agreed that the Annals

of the Znternational Geophysical Year, published for the CSAGI by the

Pergamon Press, Ltd., London, should serve as a complete record of the

IGY. All important IGY results and data will be published in the

Annals.

Such publication will not, however, preclude publication

elsewhere.

The following volumes of the Annals are in published form:

Volume I, The First and Second International Polar Years, the

Inception and Development of the IGY.

Volume IIA, The International Geophysical Year Meetings (first

four CSAGI Assemblies), 1959.

Volume III, The Ionosphere, 1957.

Volume IV, IGY Instruction Manuals (nuclear radiation, aurora

and airglow, longitudes and latitudes, geomagnetism, seismology,

cosmic radiation), 1957.

Volume V, IGY Instruction Manual (ozone, aurora and airglow,

Antarctic radio communications), 1957.

118

Page 86

Volume VI, Manual on Rockets and Satellites, 1958.

Volume VII, IGY Instructional Manual (world days and commu-

nications, CSAGI Guide to World Data Centers, Arctic com-

munications, geographical distribution of IGY stations), 1959.

Additional volumes of the Annals are in process of publication.

U.S. Antarctic Research Program

General

The scientific research conducted in the Antarctic during the IGY

developed results that indicated the need for a continuing program. To

plan for continuing Antarctic research at the international level, the

Special Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) was established by

the International Council of Scientific Unions. This Committee, ini-

tially composed of representatives of the 12 nations who conducted pro-

grams in the Antarctic as part of the IGY, makes broad international

program recommendations on the scientific work needed in the region.

All of the 12 nations represented have agreed to continue scientific pro-

grams in Antarctica.

Following a U.S. Government policy decision to continue operations

in Antarctica beyond the winter of 1958-59 on a basis consistent with the

U.S. national interest, the National Science Foundation was designated

the agency of Government to coordinate U.S. scientific programs in the

region, and the Department of Defense was named the agency to provide

logistic support to such programs.

A subsequent policy decision reduced the six-station network in the

Antarctic maintained by the United States during the IGY to a four-

station network: the Pole Station, the Byrd Station, the Naval Air Fa-

cility at McMurdo, and the Hallett Station. In addition to operating

these four stations, the United States agreed to supply scientific personnel

and equipment under cooperative arrangements with other countries at

the following stations: the Scott Base (operated by New Zealand during

the IGY and continued in the post-IGY period) ; the Wilkes Station

(formerly maintained by the United States, now by Australia) ; and the

Ellsworth Station (during the IGY operated by the United States, now

maintained by Argentina). The U.S. IGY Little America Station was

shut down at the close of the IGY.

Operation of the U.S. Antarctic Research Program

To undertake the detailed problems of coordinating a program of

Antarctic research, the National Science Foundation established during

1958 the Antarctic Research Program under the Office of Special Inter-

national Programs. Research proposals for Antarctic research are re-

119

Page 87

ceived from governmental agencies, universities, and other institutions;

am evaluated through suitable review; selected to assure a balanced

program; and supported to the extent of available funds and logistic

support. Logistic planning and requirements are handled in coopera-

tion with the U.S. Navy. (A description of research currently conducted

as part of this program can be found under “Support of Basic Research

in the Sciences,” p. 46.)

The Antarctic Research Program must in one sense be a “package”

program, because it crosses the lines of many scientific disciplines and

because it involves a geographic area. However, at the same time the

determination of program grants must be made on the basis of scientific

competence as for any Foundation grant. The area is exceedingly

remote and those who receive grants for research must have access to

Antarctica through the facilities of the Naval Support Force. Thus, be-

fore processing a grant for research in the Antarctic, the National

Science Foundation must make available more than funds; it must

also assure the grantee that the travel accommodations to and from

Antarctica, the living space for the research worker, and the scientific

facilities necessary for this work have been developed and are on hand.

All of these items contribute to the total cost of the research; the funds

involved in an individual grant itself do not therefore indicate the full

cost of the particular research project.

Considerable liaison work with the Naval Support Force and with

the Department of State are necessary to arrange for the logistic support

that each grantee must have. In addition to this, many grantees must

work in cooperation with the scientists of other nations, and the necessary

liaison work to arrange for such cooperative operations must also be

supplied where necessary through arrangements by the Foundation’s

staff.

Two groups serve in an advisory capacity to the Foundation’s

Antarctic Research Program. Broad program objectives for this coun-

try, recognizing the recommendations of the SCAR, are considered by

the Committee on Polar Research of the National Academy of Sci-

ences and proposed to the Foundation as representing the opinion of the

scientific community on the needs in certain areas of Antarctic research.

The overall program suggestions made by the Academy’s Committee

serve as guidelines in the formulation of the Foundation’s Antarctic

Research Program.

To assure full cooperation and coordination of the intragovemxnent

operations, the Interdepartmental Committee on Antarctic Research,

composed of representatives of Government agencies with interests in the

Antarctic, has been set up by the Foundation to examine proposals

120

Page 88

and progwms

of the represented agencies and the broad program sug-

gested Iby the Committee on Polar Research. The first U.S. team of

scientists to carry out research in the Antarctic following the IGY left

the United States in the fall of 1958 and will return January-Febru-

ary 1960 (Team I).

A second group of scientists (Team II) will leave the United States

in the fall of 1959; the summer contingent will return January-Febru-

ary 1960 and the winter contingent in January-February 1961.

The following table shows the number of U.S. scientists in Team I

and the number planned for Team II at each station and aboard ships

in Antarctic waters :

Team I

Team II

Station

Summer

Winter

Summer

Winter

McMurdo

(U.S.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Byrd (U.S.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pole (U.S.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

HalIett (U.S. joint with New Zealand).

Wilkes (Australia).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ellsworth (Argentina).

, . . . , . . . . . .

Scott (New Zealand). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

shipboard……………………

Cooperation With International Science Activities of Other

Government Agencies

International

Cooperation Administmtion

Under the terms of an interagency service agreement between the

Foundation and the International Cooperation Administration, certain

scientific and technical services have been supplied to that agency for

activities in different countries. These services have included during the

past year representation by more than a dozen qualified scientists at

committee meetings and symposia of t.he Organization for European

Economic Cooperation and the furnishing of a science adviser to the

Government of the Philippines in Manila.

Department of State

The Foundation has cooperated with the Department of State in

establishing liaison for the exchange of information between the staff

of the Foundation and the science officers of the Department of State

who have assumed their overseas posts.

121

Source:

Click to access ar_1959_sec4.pdf

+++

Related:

Weather Warfare – Page 104 – Google Books Result

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1931882606

Jerry E. Smith – 2006 – ‎History

… Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas introduced the Weather Modification … Chair of the Committee on Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research, …

+++

Related:

[PDF]353 Public Law 85-510

http://www.gpo.gov/…/STATUTE…

United States Government Publishing Office

section 3 (a), the Foundation shall consult with meteorologists and scientists in private life and with agencies of Government interested in, or affected by, experimental research in the field of weather control. “(b) Research programs to carry out …

[PDF]Weather and Climate Modification – NSF

https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/…/nsb1265.pdf

National Science Foundation

social, and political aspects of the field and make … SPECIAL COMMISSION ONWEATHER MODIFICATION� iv … Accomplishments of the National ScienceFoundation. Program . ….. consult with meteorologists and scientists in private lifeand with agencies of Government interested … cloud physics research,experimental.

+++

Related:

weather mod
“any activity performed w the intention of producing ARTIFICIAL changes in the composition, behavior, or dynamics of the atmosphere”
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title15-section330&num=0&edition=prelim

+++

12 thoughts on “Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959”

chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 6:20 pm

1959
The weather modification program was established under Public Law 85-5 10

Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959

Scribd

#GOP #chemTrails

+++

1959
The weather modification pgm established under Public Law 85-5 10
1

Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959

2

#GOP #chemTrails

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 6:22 pm

The weather modification program is handled as part of the Atmospheric
Sciences research support program. It was established under
Public Law 85-5 10, which directs the Foundation to “. . . . initiate
and support a program of study, research, and evaluation in the field
of weather modification.” A full range of laboratory and field experimental
work is already being supported, together with the study and
improvement of the physical and statistical evaluation methods employed
in determining the results of any seeding operation. The program
has the objective of studying more intensively than has been attempted
before the scientific basis of weather modification.

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 6:24 pm

2005
“Weather Modification” Subcommittee within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 6:25 pm

Weather Modification Subcommittee

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 6:28 pm

Hutchison “Critical Issues in Weather Modification”

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 7:17 pm

drought that held sway in many parts of the country, the claims of some of the rainmakers & the criticism from portions of the scientific community
1

Click to access nsb1265.pdf

2

Click to access STATUTE-72-Pg353.pdf

#GOP #chemTrails

+++

#drought that held sway in many parts
claims of some of the #rainmakers
1

Click to access nsb1265.pdf

2

Click to access STATUTE-72-Pg353.pdf

#GOP #chemTrails

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 7:40 pm

Cruz at BJU: Gay marriage issue not settled
http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article44930490.html
#GOP #maddow
We Don’t Need A Zealot

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 7:45 pm

US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps records of weather modification projects on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce, under authority of Public Law 92-205, 15 USC § 330B

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/chapter-9A

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 7:47 pm

The 38th Secretary of Commerce is Penny Pritzker, who was appointed by President Barack Obama on June 26, 2013

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 7:57 pm

weather mod
“any activity performed w the intention of producing ARTIFICIAL changes in the composition, behavior, or dynamics of the atmosphere”
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title15-section330&num=0&edition=prelim
#GOP #chemTrails

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 8:21 pm

National Weather Modification Policy Act of 1976, 15 U.S.C. § 330 note, Pub. L. 94-490, §§ 1-6

The purpose of this Act is to develop a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy and a national program of weather modification research and development that will, among other things, conduct research into those scientific areas considered most likely to lead to practical techniques for drought prevention or alleviation and other forms of deliberate weather modification; make weather modification research findings available to interested parties; to assess the economic, social, environmental, and legal impact of an operational weather modification program; develop both national and international mechanisms designed to minimize conflicts which may arise with respect to the peaceful uses of weather modification;

and integrate the results of existing experience and studies in weather modification activities into model codes and agreements for regulation of domestic and international weather modification activities. Pub. L. 94-490, section 2(b).

The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct a comprehensive investigation and study of the state of scientific knowledge concerning weather modification, which shall include a review and analysis of research needs in weather modification to establish areas in which more research could be expected to yield the greatest return in terms of practical weather modification technology. It shall also include, among other things, an assessment of the legal, social, and ecological implications of expanded and effective research and operational weather modification projects; as well as a review of the international importance and implications of weather modification activities by the United States, and an analysis of the necessity and feasibility of negotiating an international agreement concerning the peaceful uses of weather modification. Pub. L. 94-490, section 4(2), (4), (7), (10).

Source:

Click to access research_authorities.pdf

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chemtrailsaroundtheworld says:

November 15, 2015 at 8:25 pm

Business Operations Manual – Print All
http://www.ppi.noaa.gov/bom_print_all/

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Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959

[PDF]Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation

[PDF]ational ‘cience oundation – National Science Foundation

Weather Warfare – Page 104 – Google Books Result

[PDF]353 Public Law 85-510

[PDF]Weather and Climate Modification – NSF

12 thoughts on “Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959”

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[PDF]Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation

[PDF]ational ‘cience oundation – National Science Foundation

Weather Warfare – Page 104 – Google Books Result

[PDF]353 Public Law 85-510

[PDF]Weather and Climate Modification – NSF

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12 thoughts on “Program Activities OF the National Science Foundation – 1959”

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