Science and the Elders

Milady Science has always taken A what sponsorship she could get, happy to be about the simple chores of her trade. Her domicile has been most often within the austerity of a university of one sort or another; but a little flair for invention, never taken too seriously, has given her a night out on the town now and then with an industrial tycoon. Since World War II, however, she has stepped out with one of her old beaux in grand style, and now her heart largely belongs to Uncle. So two government professors from Harvard point out, not entirely wittingly, in a study called Science and the Nation.

The attraction which scientific research has held for industry is an understandable one, “founded on eminently practical considerations,” as Professors Dupré and Lakoff remind us. Noting that half the research in industry is now conducted on federal funds, they are alarmed by the fact that the bulk of the money goes to larger industrial firms, with the result that big companies get bigger, and little ones—which in the past built on the basis of inventions—now get crowded out. Finding some discrepancy between anti-trust prosecution and the administration of sponsored research, they are nonetheless not concerned exactly with the protection of the young entrepreneur struggling to get a foothold in our bristling company.

Milady Science has always taken A what sponsorship she could get, happy to be about the simple chores of her trade. Her domicile has been most often within the austerity of a university of one sort or another; but a little flair for invention, never taken too seriously, has given her a night out on the town now and then with an industrial tycoon. Since World War II, however, she has stepped out with one of her old beaux in grand style, and now her heart largely belongs to Uncle. So two government professors from Harvard point out, not entirely wittingly, in a study called Science and the Nation.

The attraction which scientific research has held for industry is an understandable one, “founded on eminently practical considerations,” as Professors Dupré and Lakoff remind us. Noting that half the research in industry is now conducted on federal funds, they are alarmed by the fact that the bulk of the money goes to larger industrial firms, with the result that big companies get bigger, and little ones—which in the past built on the basis of inventions—now get crowded out. Finding some discrepancy between anti-trust prosecution and the administration of sponsored research, they are nonetheless not concerned exactly with the protection of the young entrepreneur struggling to get a foothold in our bristling company.