Scientific Manpower

Evidence continues to mount that the number of scientifically and technically trained people in the United States falls far short of being adequate to satisfy even the present research needs of the government, industry, and education. While proposals for emergency expansion of the programs of the Atomic Energy Commission and other agencies imply that there will be a vastly increased drain on the nation’s resources of trained manpower, there is every indication that the production of scientists and engineers is declining. During the 20th Anniversary Meeting of the American Institute of Physics in Chicago last October, it should be noted, the AIP Placement Register provided facilities for representatives of industry, government agencies, and universities to discuss employment opportunities with those physicists (about 130) who expressed any personal interest in the matter. It is significant that the available jobs listed at that time by the Placement Register outnumbered the physicists who listed themselves as being available for employment by a ratio of almost four to one.