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Hon. EMILIO Q. DADDARIO,

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME,
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE,
Notre Dame, Ind., July 5, 1966.

Chairman, Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Development, Committee on Science and Astronautics, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN DADDARIO: In accordance with your letter of June 20, I am transmitting herewith a statement regarding "H.R. 15638, a bill to provide for the collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication, and sale of standard reference data,” for science and technology. With best regards, I am, Sincerely,

FREDERICK D. ROSSINI, Dean of the College of Science.

STATEMENT BY FREDERICK D. ROSSINI

I am glad to have the opportunity to present a statement in support of the National Standard Reference Data Program at the National Bureau of Standards. The primary objective of this program is to provide, for the scientific and technical community, reliable numerical scientific information identified as critical tables of standard reference data. Such data make possible the advance of science and industry.

Science depends upon observation and measurement. The better and more accurately we can observe and measure, the better and more rapidly our scientists can develop theories to explain the natural state of things, and the better and more rapidly our technology, and industry can develop products to improve man's existence on earth.

Because of the great expansion in the quantity of numerical data of science in all the scientific periodicals of the world, said to be doubling about every eight years, we have long passed the time when each individual investigator could personally scrutinize the total mass of literature to extract the numerical data relevant to his needs. To make it possible for the scientist to assimilate fully the new knowledge being generated in his field, we interpose between the original literature and the end-using scientist a system of review and appraisal of the scientific information by qualified experts. With such a plan, the numerical data are collected, appraised, and compiled into critical tables of standard reference data. With such standard reference data available, scientists in research laboratories in educational, governmental, and industrial organizations will then have a maximum of time to devote to their main missions, fortified with the knowledge that they have at their disposal essentially all of the existing numerical data in the literature in the form of standard reference data, critically prepared by experts.

With a complete set of critical tables of data available, the number of man-hours of scientific time that could be saved in our laboratories is incalculable. Even more important is the fact that the numerical values so produced would be of much higher quality than can be produced by the sporadic effort of scientists primary interested in other problems. The quality of the data is very important in the highly competitive technological world of today, where the precise control of temperature and pressure makes possible the conduct of industrial reactions and processes heretofore considered impossible. In his statement made before this Committee on June 30, 1966, Dr. Frederick Seitz, President of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed briefly the significant involvement of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council in the problem of critical tables of numerical data for science and technology. This involvement began on a large scale with the preparation and publication of the International Critical Tables (1922 to 1933), the work of the Committee on Tables of Constants (about 1940 to 1955), and the work of the Office of Critical

Tables (1955 to the present). The NAS-NRC Office of Critical Tables has made significant progress in surveying the needs for critical tables, coordinating existing projects, providing a directory of compilation projects, and encouraging uniform editorial practices and the use of approved symbols, units, constants, and nomenclature. In addition, the NAS-NRC Office of Critical Tables, operating through the Office of the Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, has been successful in developing good liaison with compilation projects in the other major countries of the world. But the establishment of new datacompiling projects for new scientific areas required considerable funding and little progress was made on this objective. In 1963, it appeared that this problem was solved with the establishment of the National Standard Reference Data Program at the National Bureau of Standards, with the expectation of adequate funding.

The true numerical value of a scientific constant is the same the world over. Scientists in all countries have need of the quantitative information of science put together in the form of critical tables of standard reference data. The NAS-NRC Office of Critical Tables, through the Office of the Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, has made significant progress in encouraging other countries to become more concerned about this problem on a world-wide basis.

As reported by Dr. Seitz in his testimony before this Committee, the Office of the Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences has spearheaded the formation, under the International Council for Scientific Unions, of an ICSU Committee on Data for Science and Technology, with "National" members from six major countries (France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, U.S.A., and U.S.S.R.) and "Union" members from twelve international scientific unions. Through the operation of this world-wide Committee, it is hoped to have all countries share, in proportion to their capabilities and resources, in the work of compiling critical tables of standard reference data. Our country is looked upon as the leader in this work and must be prepared to support its share of the costs of this international collaboration, by the National Academy of Sciences, operating through its Office of Critical Tables.

In the United States, we recognize three sectors in our scientific and technical community: university, industry, and government. It is important in our freeenterprise system to encourage work on critical tables of standard reference data in all sectors and to achieve the benefits of the competition resulting therefrom. To avoid serious duplication of effort in such work, appropriate coordination must be provided. The National Academy of Sciences, through its operating instrumentality, the National Research Council, has served notably over the years as a place where scientists from universities, industrial laboratories, and government organizations come together for the purpose of exchanging ideas and experiences, and arranging for appropriate coordination of their work in given fields. We hope that industry will continue and expand its support of compilation projects in areas of special interest. A notable example of such projects is the American Petroleum Institute Research Project 44, which has, since 1942, been compiling data on the physical, thermodynamic, and spectral properties of hydrocarbons and related compounds. In the field of standard reference data, the NAS-NRC Office of Critical Tables can provide an arena for needed coordination and for the provision of advisory services.

With regard to the bill being considered by this Committee, H.R. 15638, to provide for the collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication, and sale of standard reference data, I am in complete and enthusiastic accord with the primary purpose of the bill, to make possible adequate funding of the National Standard Reference Data Program at the National Bureau of Standards.

However, there are some specific comments on several sections of the bill, which I wish to make, as follows:

Section 5. The system for pricing should not prevent the libraries in small colleges and universities, nor the libraries of small research laboratories in industry and government, from having a full complement of standard reference data in some appropriate form. This concern covers not only small libraries in university, industrial, and government organizations in the United States, but also those in all countries in the free world abroad, in many of which dollar currency is not abundant.

Section 6. I approach with considerable hesitation the subject of a "seal of approval" to be placed on each page, chapter, and volume of data under the Na

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tional Standard Reference Data Program. It would seem to me to be adequate to have reports from investigations supported by the National Standard Reference Data Program simply identified as serial publications of NSRDP. We hope that there will continue to be many investigations in this field supported by other than government funds, particularly by industrial associations, which have a big stake in the direction and manner in which such programs are carried on. Among such non-government investigations, there will be many scientists who feel that the quality of their work should be determined not by a governmental or other body affixing a seal of approval but by the process of hard scrutiny and use of the data by their fellow scientists the world over. That is to say, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating".

Section 7. If If I understand this correctly, every page, chapter, and volume, regardless of origin, bearing the "seal of approval" of the National Standard Reference Data Program would be copyrighted. As stated by Dr. Seitz in his testimony before this Committee, such action would serve as a deterrent to the free flow of the numerical data of science. It is important that such free flow not be hampered by any artificial restrictions. Natural barriers create enough delay in this process without introducing additional ones.

In summary, I strongly and enthusiastically support the primary purpose of this bill, which is to provide adequate funding for the National Standard Reference Data Program at the National Bureau of Standards, but recommend careful scrutiny of Sections 5, 6, and 7, along the lines indicated above.

BIOGRAPHY OF FREDERICK D. ROSSINI

B.S., M.S., Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1925, 1926. Ph. D., University of California-Berkeley, 1928. National Bureau of Standards, 1928-1950. Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1950-1960. University of Notre Dame, 1960-. Present position: Dean of the College of Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Author or co-author of 8 books and more than 200 papers, including the following books which are relevant to the subject under discussion:

"Thermochemistry of the Chemical Substances." Bichowsky and Rossini. 460 pages. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York (1936).

"Selected values of properties of hydrocarbons." Rossini, Pitzer, Taylor, Ebert, Kilpatrick, Beckett, Williams, and Werner. 483 pages. National Bureau of Standards Circular 461. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (1947).

"Selected values of physical and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons and related compounds." Rossini, Pitzer, Arnett, Braun, and Pimentel. 1050 pages. Carnegie Institute of Technology Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1953).

"Properties of titanium compounds and related substances." Rossini, Cowie, Ellison, and Browne. 448 pages. U.S. Office of Naval Research, Washington, D.C. (1956).

The following professional connections are relevant :

First Director (1942-1960) of the American Petroleum Institute Research Project 44 on "Data on Hydrocarbons and Related Compounds".

First Director (1955-1960) of the Manufacturing Chemists Association Research Project on "Data on Chemical Compounds".

Current Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Office of Critical Tables, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council.

Current Chairman of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology of the International Council for Scientific Unions.

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Congressman GEORGE MILLER,

SADTLER RESEARCH LABORATORIES, INC.,
Philadelphia, Pa., June 30, 1966.

Chairman, House Committee on Science and Astronautics, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN MILLER: We at Sadtler Research Laboratories have been scanning Infrared, Ultra Violet, and Nuclear Molecular Resonance Spectra since 1947. Based upon this experience, I should like to make the following statement. We have been publishing reference Spectra during this nineteen year period. The total number is now over 66,000 spectra. They are used by the leading research laboratories in government, industry and universities in forty-five or more countries. This private enterprise project contains more Standard Reference Spectra than this published by the rest of the world collectively.

The Bureau of Standards is of the opinion that it would be an easy matter to collect other people's spectra and publish them. This is not the case. Whenever we have done this, we have received severe criticisms because the samples used by various laboratories are not always pure, and the Spectrophotometry is not of standard quality. Many research workers have their own unique method of scanning and Spectroscopists cannot use those methods because they are unknown. We, however, have published several papers on our scanning techniques and sample preparations. We have been setting the Standards of the quality of Infrared, UV, NMR, and DTA published spectra for U.S. and foreign research. Many submit spectra of the same sample which greatly reduces the number of different spectra available.

In 1964 at the Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in Pittsburgh, we submitted a report on a new technique of preparing Infrared Spectrograms which made 20% or more spectra out of date. This you can see for yourself from the following examples.

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PERCENT TRANSMITTANCE

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Source: B. Schamp, University of Chent, Belgium

Ref.: Chen. Abatr. 62, 7945 (1964)

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The Standard Reference Committee has tended to work on its own without experienced industrial help. As a result, it fosters a project which in many cases is out of date and this has not been satisfactory for the Bureau or for industry committees who have tried this approach. The time involved in collecting spectra of questionable value and duplicity can be more than the rescanning of the spectra would take.

Any spectra or other physical data that would have the Bureau's seal should be of the highest standard of quality. The standard quality would consist of— a. sample analysed by the Bureau of Standards

b. purified by the Bureau of Standards, if necessary

c. run under Standard conditions

d. edited in a Standard way

e. printed in a Standard format

Any lesser procedure would not be worthy of the Bureau's seal and could be greatly misleading to research.

I recommend that the Bureau of Standards preserve the integrity of its name and use of its seal or name only on Standard data when the complete program is done by the Bureau of Standards so that those in research are sure that the samples are pure and there are no errors in the spectra. Should the Bureau not be willing to meet these strict requirements, of which their reputation demands, the work should be left to private enterprise which has handled his job successfully at minimal cost to the Government for nearly twenty years.

Should the Committee desire to discuss this further, I would be glad to meet with the Committee on one day's notice before July 15th or after July 24th. Respectfully submitted.

PHILIP SADTLER, President.

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