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Science and secrecy

MAR 01, 1953
The following remarks by Atomic Energy Commissioner Smyth are taken from an address delivered last December 15th at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in dedication of that laboratory’s new proton accelerator, the Cosmotron.
Henry DeWolf Smyth

It is often useful to distinguish between basic science and applied science, or technology. There are many ways of making this distinction. Perhaps the simplest is in terms of objective and motivation. The objective of science is to understand the laws of nature, whereas the objective of technology is the immediate improvement of the material condition of man.

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Henry DeWolf Smyth, Atomic Energy Commission.

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Volume 6, Number 3

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