The independent research institution

It is sometimes maintained that the day of the independent research institution is over, that henceforth fundamental research belongs to the universities with heavy governmental subsidy, and that such an institution no longer occupies a unique position in the national scene as it once did. When this view is based on more than a casual estimate of national trends, it usually implies two criticisms: first, that the research institution is isolated and that the interchange and cross‐fertilization of a university community is necessary for best progress in these days when disciplines are becoming more intimately interlinked; second, that fundamental research and the education of brilliant students should be closely related and that the research institution is prone to become ingrowing and stodgy in the absence of the continual impact of young minds.