National Research Council of the United States

Abstract

THE report of the National Research Council for the year July 1, 1931-rJune 30, 1932, provides an interesting commentary bearing on the note above. It covers the sixteenth year of the Council's activities and includes an account of the founding and organisation of the Council. It is an organisation devoted primarily to the promotion and co-ordination of scientific research rather than to the actual conduct of investigations. Its operating divisions include specific fields of science such as the physical sciences, engineering, chemistry, geology and geography, the medical sciences, biology and agriculture, while other divisions are concerned with research information service, and with general relations of the Council with the Federal Government, scientific agencies of the State governments, and educational institutions. The Council is the official representative in the United States of the International Council of Scientific Unions. With the financial assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Research Council administers three series of research fellowships for men and women who have comparatively recently received their doctor's degree or equivalent qualification, the fellowships being granted for research under competent specialists in university laboratories or in other research institutions. Some 774 fellows have been appointed and of 152 active fellows in March 1932, 63 were working in physics, chemistry or mathematics, 27 in medical sciences, and 62 in the biological sciences, all but 25 of these fellows studying in the United States. The term of the fellowship is on an average a little over a year and a half and the average age of appointment, 27-28 years. In addition to the fellowships, the Council encourages research by grants in aid of individual investigations and for certain types of co-operative research and for conferences. It has also assisted in financing the publication of the ‘Index to the International Critical Tables’ and of the ‘Annual Tables of Constants and Numerical Data in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Technology’.