The Mathematical Sciences: A Report (1968) / Chapter Skim
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15 The Mathematical Sciences in Society's Service
15 The Mathematical Sciences in Society's Service
Pages 211-219
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From page 211... ...
Rough but probably adequate estimation leads to a figure of perhaps one fourth of the nation's adult population. With the increasing complexity of society's mechanisms, institutions, and interrelations, leading inevitably to greater public education, this fraction is in the process of slowly moving # According to reference 44, 47.7 percent of the U.S.
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From page 212... ...
Now we look at those who work in mathematical sciences in some way or another. The two largest groups are somewhat over 100,000 high school teachers of mathematics and 200,000 computer programmers, to which we should add the roughly 50,000 members of professional societies dealing with mathematical research, college teaching of mathematics, statistics, computer science, operations research, and management science all told, approximately 350,000 to 400,000 people.
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From page 213... ...
If research training in mathematical science continues to expand rapidly, it will be either because of a continuing atmosphere of general public approval or because we shall have opened the way to graduate work to a wider variety of students by removing social obstacles, by establishing a greater diversity in undergraduate programs, or by broadening understanding and knowledge of mathematical sciences among all college teachers of mathematics. All these reasons for continuing growth are significant and appropriate.
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From page 214... ...
All past experience, from the dawn of history to recent times, teaches us that the ultimate applicability of a mathematical concept or technique can hardly ever be predicted, that only quite short-range forecasts can be trusted, and that calls for massive effort at one point, at the expense of efforts at other points, should usually be resisted. In this situation, mathematical sciences proceed by a large number of small independent research efforts, often conducted by single individuals or by small groups of men.
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From page 215... ...
The proper time scale for thinking about our society's system of mathematical science is not merely long, as it must be for all the sciences, but very long. From society's viewpoint, the largest reason for supporting selfmotivated research in mathematical sciences is the continuing impact of the resulting innovations, first as immediate mathematical applications and then more broadly.
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From page 216... ...
As a consequence of its implicit strategy of pressing ahead wherever it seems that reasonably valuable ground can be gained, mathematical science sometimes prepares the way very far in advance. That important uses should follow discovery by decades, often by several decades, should neither be a cause for surprise nor a reason for criticism.
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From page 217... ...
As long as emergencies continue to arise at the usual rate, society can count on this resource created by basic mathematical research as one sort of return from its investments in research training in mathematical science. It can do this, however, only by using research-trained people quite differently most of the time.
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From page 218... ...
Neither the fraction of gross national product that can be devoted to research nor the number of people potentially capable of becoming research investigators can increase indefinitely. At the moment, the need for the innovations of mathematicalscience research is large and growing.
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From page 219... ...
Direct contact with research leadership contributes greatly to education in mathematical sciences below the research level. In the future, research leaders may not be able to contribute much time to this activity.
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