Trends in American science

We have progressed far enough since the war to be able to delineate trends in the pattern of science in this country, so that it becomes well worthwhile to take stock and examine whether on the whole it is a sound pattern that is being formed for the future. Much that is salutary is immediately apparent. The conspicuous swing that has occuried toward greater emphasis on the physical sciences was inevitable, in view of the startling effects produced by their application in the waging of war, and especially since the tension did not lift with the coming of formal peace. Yet the form which this emphasis took in this country is, in retrospect, a bit surprising.