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The CIW: A Model of Scientific Freedom
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17431 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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1 / 1990 |
3,339 Words |
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Hatten S. Yoder, Jr.
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An endowment made by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to encourage "investigation, research, and discovery" for the improvement of mankind was the beginning of a new type of institution. His wish was to complement the existing teaching universities through cooperation with a research institution formed for the purpose of contributing to the “higher science" of the nation. His aims were to promote original research, discover the exceptional man, increase facilities for higher education, aid teachers in experimental and other work, provide student access to the special advantages of Washington's other institutions, and ensure prompt publication of significant research.
Of these aims, the most enduring and unique was his wish to discover the exceptional man in every department of study, and this is the principal reason for the tremendous success of the institution's departments.
Because the exceptional individual has complete scientific freedom to follow whatever he or she believes to be important, directions of research change. That freedom of choice is why the CIW has remained unique in the halls of science. The price of such a generous measure of scientific freedom is greater responsibility to produce and more extensive tests of accountability. Acceptance and recognition through peer review generally ensure continuous testing, but the responsibility to produce is self generated and is expressed by high motivation and involvement. These characteristics are common to the staff members and researchers of the CIW departments.
Each department was formed as a pioneering venture in a new field of study in which individuals of broadly differing backgrounds could be brought together to investigate a general problem. Most university departments are constrained to a specific scientific discipline (e.g., chemistry, physics, mathematics), but the Carnegie departments have no such bounds. This interdisciplinary approach, established at the very beginning, continues to gain acceptance as an appropriate method for problem solving.
The departments have evolved over the years; in some cases, existing departments were closed when a field became sufficiently well established elsewhere. The five departments that make up the CIW today are: the Observatories, Terrestrial Magnetism, and the Geophysical Laboratory for the physical sciences; and Embryology and Plant Biology for the biological sciences. Even the boundaries of these broad, autonomous departments became obscured as investigations into the fundamental nature and interactions of the universe tend to overlap. As might be expected, however, the management and scientific methods of each department are unique.
The Observatories
Research at the observatories (organized in 1904) is directed toward all phases of optical astronomy. Much of the past success can be attributed to the invention, erection, and maintenance of superior observing devices. In its first five decades, the observatory at Mount Wilson in California was the world center for astronomy, beginning under the dynamic leadership of its founder, George Ellery Hale. He chose the Mount Wilson site because it had at that time the best "seeing" conditions in North America. The 60-inch telescope erected there in 1908 and the 100-inch Hooker telescope erected in 1918, then the largest in the world, gave CIW astronomers, and their visiting
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