REPORT OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR JULY 1, 1928, TO JUNE 30, 1929 (Prepared by Vernon KelloGG, permanent secretary, with the assistance of the chairmen of divisions) INTRODUCTION The National Research Council on completing the thirteenth year of its existence presents the following report: The council has been intrusted during the year with the responsibility of expending sums of money aggregating over $724,000 appropriated by various foundations, industrial concerns, and individuals for the support of various special undertakings in the way of promotion, organization, and carrying out of scientific work and research. Later in this report there is presented a statement in summary form of the actual expenditures during the year, and in the attached treasurer's report a detailed account of assets, income, and disbursements. The council is an organization primarily devoted to the promotion and cooperative coordination of scientific research rather than to the actual conduct of research under its direction, although it has not hesitated to assume the responsibility of carrying on a number of important specific projects of investigation. Its members include, in addition to professional scientific men, a representation of men of affairs and business men interested in industry and engineering and in the fundamental or "pure" science on which applied science depends. The research council is composed of a series of major divisions, one group of seven divisions of science and technology representing, respectively, physics, mathematics, and astronomy; engineering and industrial research; chemistry and chemical technology; geology and geography; the medical sciences; biology and agriculture; and anthropology and psychology; and another group of four divisions of general relations, representing Federal relations, foreign relations, States relations, and educational relations. There is also a special research information service. As subordinate or affiliated lesser groups, each of these divisions comprises a larger or smaller series of committees, each with its special problem or subject of attention. There are certain other committees, administrative and technical, which affiliate directly with the executive board of the council. The general administrative officers of the council are a chairman, three vice chairmen, permanent secretary, treasurer, and a chairman of each of the several divisions. All of these except the permanent secretary and treasurer are elected annually by the executive board or by the members of the divisions with the approval of the executive board. The research council's lines of work and methods involve the maintenance of a wide contact by it with the scientific organizations and workers of this country and of various foreign countries representing both fundamental science and its applications. The actual membership of the council, appointed by the president of the National Academy of Sciences, 291 persons, is chiefly composed of accredited representatives of 76 national scientific and technical societies nominated directly by these societies. Constant and stimulating contact with the colleges and universities of the country is maintained, as also with the Government's various scientific bureaus. Relations with foreign scientific workers and organizations are closely maintained through the International Research Council and its affiliated international unions representing different special fields of science. The council is the official representative in this country of the International Research Council, with its various affiliated international scientific unions. RELATIONS TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES The National Research Council was established in 1916 at the request of the President of the United States by the National Academy of Sciences under its congressional charter. By an Executive order dated May 11, 1918, the academy was requested by the Presi dent to perpetuate the research council for the performance of certain duties specified in the order. In an opinion rendered by the Attorney General of the United States on January 29, 1920, the National Research Council was recognized as an agency of the National Academy of Sciences for the accomplishment of certain particular purposes. The funds derived by gift or otherwise for the use of the research council are held by the academy and are paid out only on general or specific authorization of the academy. The treasurer of the academy is ex-officio treasurer of the research council, and all checks made out by the bursar of the research council are signed by the treasurer as an official of both the academy and research council. The research. council participates on equal terms with the academy in the support and use of the Proceedings of the academy. However, the research council has its own officers and membership, distinct from those of the academy, and determines, under the general provisions established by the academy, its own policies and activities. RELATIONS TO ENGINEERING FOUNDATION The Engineering Foundation, established in 1914 by the United Engineering Society, acting for the national societies of civil, mining and metallurgical, mechanical, and electrical engineers, gave the council financial support in the crucial days of the council's beginnings during the World War, and continues intimate relations with the division of engineering and industrial research of the National Research Council and through the United Engineering Society representing the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, provides the division with an office in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York. In turn the Engineering Foundation is provided with an office in the National Academy-Research Council Building in Washington. The chairman of the foundation is ex officio a member of the executive board of the research council. OFFICERS FOR 1929-30 At the meeting of the executive board on April 23, 1929, the following officers were elected for the year July 1, 1929, to June 30 1930: Chairman, George K. Burgess, Director, United States Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.; first vice chairman, T. H. Morgan, president, National Academy of Sciences, professor of biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.; second vice chairman, John C. Merriam, president, Carnegie Institution of Washington; third vice chairman, Simon Flexner, director, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York City. The honorary chairman, George E. Hale, honorary director, Mount Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, Calif.; the permanent secretary, Vernon Kellogg, National Research Council; the treasurer, J. S. Ames, president, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., and treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences, together with the assistant secretaries, Paul Brockett, assistant secretary and custodian of buildings and grounds, National Academy of Sciences, and Albert L. Barrows, National Research Council, continue in office without annual election. Chairmen of the various divisions of the council were elected to serve during the year 1929-30 as follows: Division of Federal relations, George Otis Smith, director, United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.; division of foreign relations, R. A. Millikan, director, Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics, California Institute |