Abstract
DURING the past few years much has been done by the State to provide facilities for research, but it is not too much to say that even now neither the public nor our statesmen understand the debt they owe to the peculiar and rare geniuses to whom the greatest discoveries are due, or that any attempt has been made to discharge it. Grants for research expenses or for the maintenance of research workers are available from various sources, and much valuable work is being carried on through this aid. What is wanted to complete the scheme is a fund from which pensions or other substantial money grants could be rnade for scientific discoveries of an epoch-making character, somewhat in the manner of the award of the Nobel prizes. We referred a few weeks ago (March 4, p. 18) to a deputation which waited upon Mr. Balfour, Lord President of the Council, to urge that a sum of about 20,000l. should be set aside annually for this purpose; and we trust that this modest provision for the encouragement of genius will be forthcoming.
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The Encouragement of Discovery. Nature 105, 189 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105189a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105189a0