Abstract
NO one could claim that the Conference on Scientific Research and Industrial Planning held by the Division for the Social and International Relations of Science of the British Association (see p. 8) in London on December 7 and 8 broke fresh ground or threw up any new ideas. One of its most interesting features was rather the evidence it afforded of the way in which ideas once regarded as impractical or revolutionary are permeating the whole field of science and industry, and indeed of Government itself. Already it is clear that principles advocated in the Barlow Report on scientific staff, in the Nuffield College Statement on Problems of Scientific and Industrial Research and in reports from the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, the Association of Scientific Workers and the Federation of British Industries, to mention only a few, have found widespread acceptance. Speaker after speaker, whether from the industrial, the academic or the Government side, referred to the importance of such factors as the interchange and mobility of staff, freedom in the publication of results, the importance of status and the like in attracting the right type of mind and in encouraging creative and original thinking. The lessons of teamwork demonstrated so convincingly during the War are being taken to heart, and it is realized that such co-operation and team-work must above all be based on conditions of employment which both attract the right type of man in sufficient numbers and stimulate him to give of his best.
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THE HUMAN FACTOR IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Nature 157, 1–3 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157001a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157001a0