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Poil Taps "Deeply Troubled Mood" Among U.S. University Scientists
and that a potential breakdown of the country's scientific infrastructure may be at hand. Lederman and others attribute the source of the problem to insufficient fundLéon Lederman, Nobel lauréate and ing. One problem Lederman stressed is president-elect of the American Associathat twice as many doctoral scientists are tion for the Advancement of Science, said competing for funds now as were in 1968 that a récent poil he took of physicists, and the corresponding resources hâve not chemists, and biologists has tapped "a moved forward as rapidly. However, Ledeeply troubled mood" among America's derman's own proposai, which advocates university scientists. "This is so pervasive a budget doubling over the next rive years, that it raises serious questions about the appeared to reçeive thin support, even very future of science in the United States," from among the science cognoscenti, for he said. One of the groups most affected is one reason or another. materials researchers, said Lederman in a téléphone interview with the MRS BULLEThe most serious criticism of Lederman's TIN. proposai was that it appeared unrealistic in The report, presented publicly in Washa rime of gênerai national belt tightening ington on January 7, is titled Science: The and fell into the category of aggressive lobEnd of The Frontier? Surveys were sent to bying that so many spécial interests in scientists at 50 universities, including the Washington attempt to use. Another prob30 universities receiving the greatest lem, voiced specifically by Senator Al Gore amount of funding. The report is largely (D-TN), was the need to stem the flow of anecdoctal, and Lederman acknowledged America's scientific research abroad before that a social scientist would find his meththeflowsubstantially increases. odology "horrendous." However, there is Lederman also identified new fields of évidence from those who provided testiresearch opened up since 1968 that must monials that the U.S. compétitive position be populated, including materials science, is falling, relationships between professors molecular genetics, organometallic chemand graduate srudents are negatively afistry, chaos, and complexity. fected (with srudents sometimes walking Lederman attempted not to place ail the away from promising disciplines of study), responsibility on the fédéral government,
also suggesting the establishment of a trust fund supported by spécial taxes on high technology consumer products that benefit research, and the establishment of partnerships between the government and investment community. He recommended organizing a new commission to study such possibilities. Représentatives would be drawn from the executive and législative branches, industry, the financial community, and academia. In one response to the survey, a professor of physics said, "My current plans are to quit. As funds for research disappear, I lose the ability to support srudents and operate a laboratory. Real research cannot be done without fund
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