American Institute of Physics: Director's report for 1951

American physicists today find themselves in a national environment ever more complex. In this brief report, one can only note a few new components of this environment. One such is the National Science Foundation. It should be welcomed. It is civilian, it is an evidence of government conscience for the support of science in the face of declining private donations, it is staffed by men in whom physicists have confidence and it has already announced a farsighted program to strengthen the very foundation of science.