UNESCO

Abstract

At a recent meeting of the National Committee for Co-operation with UNESCO in the Natural Sciences, Dr J. Needham, F. R. S. , first Director of the Natural Sciences Section, gave a brief report on the work of the Section. The substance of his report is as follows: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is part of an international plan for the promotion and maintenance of world peace, and in the domain of the Natural Sciences is one of the most effective means of strengthening the ties which bind the peoples of the world together into one human community. To quote the Report on the programme, issued in 1946 by the Preparatory Commission of UNESCO, ‘the material and cultural well-being of the common man everywhere is an essential basis for lasting world peace, and can alone give meaning and content to the promise of the Four Freedoms. But this material and cultural well-being can not be attained without the continued extension of scientific knowledge and its application to human needs throughout the world.’ The progressive and beneficial role of science in society can best be brought home to the public if statesmen ensure that science does play such a role and that all misuse of science is prevented.