Support of the Biological Sciences by the Office of Naval Research

Abstract

N recognition of the paramount importance of scientific research in the maintenance of future naval power and national security, and for the purpose of providing one office within the Department of the Navy specifically to conduct specialized and imaginative research in government facilities and under contract with private individuals, corporations, and educational or scientific institutions, the 79th Congress established the Office of Naval Research, Act of 1 August 1946, Public Law 588. The Congressional Act which established the Office of Naval Research patterned it largely after its predecessor, the Office of Research and Inventions, and transferred to it the several component organizations of that Office.1 The newly established Office of Naval Research realized the urgency of several immediate obligations. (1) Recognizing the fact that applied research and development in military fields had exploited most of our understanding of basic mechanisms in the physical as well as in the biological sciences, the Navy must contribute to the development of new concepts of the behavior of matter, both living and non-living, lest the development of practical devices cease altogether. (2) A number of activities of great importance, initiated by the war-time OSRD, should be maintained in order to protect the investments already made in facilities and in teams of investigators. (3) Close liaison should be developed and maintained with the scientific community in order that confident co-operation might be insured in the event of another emergency. Several longer-range objectives were also recognized, and these were beautifully documented in Science, the Endless Frontier, in which Dr. Bush described the potential effectiveness of a National Foundation as the governmental source of guidance in the development of science.2 When the proposed National Foundation encountered legislative difficulties, the Office of Naval Research accepted the temporary responsibility for some of these long-range objectives. An example of this type of objective was the formation of a Source File of Scientific Personnel which was the basis of the most recent edition of American Men of Science and the investigation of ancillary problems. Having known that the Office of Naval Research was carrying the ball prior to the establishment of the National Foundation, some scientists have expressed concern that the recent establishment of the Foundation might cause the Office of Naval Research to decrease its support of basic research. We wish to reassure these scientists as to the intentions of the Office of Naval Research with respect to its support of biological science and to acquaint them with what changes may be expected in its program as a result of the establishment of the National Foundation. The basis for these intentions is found in a series of statements 3 made in Congressional hearings by various authorities on the relationship of the Foundation to other organizations which support scientific research.