Discover
/
Article

Needs for a national policy

OCT 01, 1969
Among shortcomings to be faced are projects that burden the National Science Foundation, rising costs of graduate science education, lack of coördination in attacks on social problems, and the poor flow of information from scientists to Congress.
Emilio Q. Daddario

THIRTY YEARS AGO research in physics in the United States was a remote concern of government. Graduate students in this then pure science were the original do‐it‐yourself leaders and had to become as adept at begging and borrowing as they were in making equipment. Then came the discovery of fission, the second world war and the nuclear chain reaction. You well know the rest of the story. Congress was so impressed with the enormous new power derived from the science of physics that it enacted one of the most extraordinary laws in our history—the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

  1. 1. Harvey Brooks, “Future Needs for the Support of Basic Research,” Basic Research and National Goals, A report to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, US House of Representatives, by the National Academy of Sciences, 77 (1965).

  2. 2. D. K. Price, Science 163, 27 (1969).https://doi.org/SCIEAS

  3. 3. P. Handler, Hearings before the House Committee on Science, Research and Development, 91st Cong., 1st sess., 1969, p. 181.

More about the authors

Emilio Q. Daddario, House Committee on Science and Astronautics, chairman of its subcommittee on Science, Research and Development.

Related content
/
Article
A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.
/
Article
Since the discovery was first reported in 1999, researchers have uncovered many aspects of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, but its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
/
Article
Metrologists are using fundamental physics to define units of measure. Now NIST has developed new quantum sensors to measure and realize the pascal.
/
Article
Nanoscale, topologically protected whirlpools of spins have the potential to move from applications in spintronics into quantum science.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1969_10.jpeg

Volume 22, Number 10

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.