Integrity of science in government

Physicists have been greatly disturbed by the information that has reached them through the public press regarding the resignation of A. V. Astin from his position as Director of the National Bureau of Standards. The alleged grounds for the request of Dr. Astin’s resignation by Secretary of Commerce Weeks were that the findings in certain tests on the prolongation of the life of storage batteries by a proprietary additive were incorrect. Though this conclusion is open to question and the performance of the tests antedated Dr. Astin’s incumbency as Director of the Bureau, what is of still greater concern to scientists is that the Secretary of Commerce appears to believe that science and politics are miscible in the cauldron of the marketplace. Members of the Institute of Physics will welcome the views of a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. M. J. Kelly, upon which the Institute is represented by Dr. L. A. DuBridge, which has been appointed to evaluate the present functions and operations of the Bureau and which will furnish Secretary Weeks and the public with a report on its findings.

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