Table Of ContentTHE USEFULNESS OF USELESS
KNOWLEDGE
BY ABRAHAM FLEXNER
r
IT not a curious fact that in a world mental problems. I have no quarrel
steeped in irrational hatreds which with thistendency. The world in which
threaten civilization itself, men and weliveisthe only world about which our
women-old and young-detach them- senses can testify. Unless it is made a
selves wholly or partly from the angry better world, a fairer world, millions
current ofdaily life to devote themselves will continue to go to their graves
to the cultivation ofbeauty, to the exten- silent, saddened, and embittered. I
sionofknowledge, to the cure ofdisease, have myself spent many years pleading
to the amelioration of suffering, just as that our schools should become more
though fanatics were not simultaneously acutely aware of the world in which
engaged in spreading pain, ugliness, and their pupils and students are destined to
suffering? The world has always been a pass their lives. Now I sometimes won-
sorry and confused sort of place-yet der whether that current has not become
poets and artists and scientists have ig- too strong and whether there would be
nored the factors that would, ifattended sufficient opportunity for a full life if
to, paralyze them. From a practical the world were emptied of some of the
point of view, intellectual and spiritual useless things that give it spiritual sig-
life is, on the surface, a uselessform of nificance; in other words, whether our
activity, in which men indulge because conception of what .is useful may not
they procure forthemselves greater satis- have become too narrow to be adequate
factions than are otherwise obtainable. to the roaming and capricious possibili-
In this paper I shall concern myselfwith ties ofthe human spirit.
the question of the extent to which the We may lookat thisquestion from two
pursuit oftheseuselesssatisfactionsproves points of view: the scientific and the
unexpectedly the source from which un- humanistic or spiritual. Let ustake the
dreamed-of utility isderived. scientific first. I recall a conversation
We hear it said with tiresome iteration which I had some years ago with Mr.
that ours isa materialistic age, the main George Eastman on the subject of use.
concern of which should be the wider Mr. Eastman, a wise and gentle far-
distributionof material goodsand worldly seeing man, gifted with taste in music
opportunities. The justified outcry of and art, had been saying to me that he
those who through no fault of their own meant to devote his vast fortune to the
are deprived of opportunity and a fair promotion of education in useful sub-
share of worldly goods therefore diverts jects. I ventured to ask him whom he
an increasing number of students from regarded as the most useful worker in
the studies which their fathers pursued to science in the world. He replied in-
the equally important and no lessurgent stantaneously: "Marconi." I surprised
study of social, economic, and govern- him by sayin~, "Whatever pleasure we
THE USEFULNESS OF USELESS KNOWLEDGE 545
derive from the radio or however wireless and Maxwell were geniuses without
and the radio may have added to human thought of use. Marconi was a clever
life, Marconi's share was practically inventor with no thought but use.
negligible." The mention ofHertz's name recalled
I shall not forget his astonishment on toMr. Eastman the Hertzian waves,and I
this occasion. He asked me toexplain. suggested that he might askthe physicists
I replied to him somewhat as follows: of the University of Rochester precisely
"Mr. Eastman, Marconi was inevita- what Hertz and Maxwell had done; but
ble. The real credit for everything that one thing I said he could be sure of,
has been done in the field of wireless namely, that they had done their work
belongs, asfarassuchfundamental credit without thought ofuseand that through-
can be definitely assigned to anyone, to out the whole history of science most of
Professor Clerk Maxwell, who in 1865 the really great discoveries which had
carried out certain abstruse and remote ultimately proved to be beneficial to
calculations in the field of magnetism mankind had been made by men and
and electricity. Maxwell reproduced women who were driven not by the de-
his abstract equations in a treatise pub- sire to be useful but merely the desire to
lished in 1873. At the next meeting of satisfytheir curiosity.
the British Association Professor H.]. S. "Curiosity?" asked Mr. Eastman.
Smith ofOxford declared that 'no mathe- "Yes," I replied, "curiosity, which
matician can turn over the pages ofthese mayor may not eventuate in something
volumes without realizing that they con- useful, isprobably the outstanding char-
tain a theory which has already added acteristic of modern thinking. It is not
largely to the methods and resources of new. It goes back to Galileo, Bacon,
pure mathematics.' Other discoveries and to Sir Isaac Newton, and it must be
supplemented Maxwell's theoretical work absolutely unhampered. Institutions of
during the next fifteenyears. Finally in learning should be devoted to the culti-
1887and 1888the scientific problem still vation of curiosity and the less they are
remaining-the detection and demon- deflected by considerations ofimmediacy
stration of the electromagnetic waves ofapplication, the more likelythey are to
which are the carriers ofwireless signals contribute not only to human welfare
-was solvedby Heinrich Hertz, aworker but to the equally important satisfaction
in Helmholtz's laboratory in Berlin. ofintellectual interest which may indeed
Neither Maxwell nor Hertz had any con- besaid tohave become the ruling passion
cern about the utility of their work; no ofintellectual lifein modern times."
such thought ever entered their minds.
They had no practical objective. The
II
inventor in the legal sense was of course
Marconi, but what did Marconi invent? What is true of Heinrich Hertz work-
Merely the last technical detail, mainly ing quietly and unnoticed in a corner of
the now obsolete receiving device called Helmholtz's laboratory in the later years
coherer, almost universally discarded." ofthe nineteenth century may be said of
Hertz and Maxwell could invent noth- scientists and mathematicians the world
ing, but it was their useless theoretical over for several centuries past. We live
work which was seized upon by a clever ina world that would behelplesswithout
technician and which has created new electricity. Called upon to mention a
means for communication, utility, and discovery ofthe most immediate and far-
amusement by which men whose merits reaching practical usewemight wellagree
are relatively slight have obtained fame upon electricity. But who made the
and earned millions. Who were the fundamental discoveriesout ofwhich the
useful men? Not Marconi, but Clerk entire electrical development of more
Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz. Hertz than one hundred years has come?
546 HARPER'S MAGAZINE
The answer is interesting. Michael phasize the fact that the part played by
Faraday's father was a blacksmith; science in making war more destructive
Michael himself was apprenticed to a and more horrible was an unconscious
bookbinder. In 1812, when he was al- and unintended by-product of scientific
ready twenty-one years of age, a friend activity. Lord Rayleigh, president of
took him to the Royal Institution where the British Association for the Advance-
he heard Sir Humphrey Davy deliver ment of Science, in a recent address
four lectures on chemical subjects. He points out indetail how the follyofman,
kept notes and sent a copy of them to not the intention of the scientists, is re-
Davy. The very next year, 1813, he sponsible for the destructive use of the
became an assistantinDavy's laboratory, agents employed in modern warfare.
working on chemical problems. Two The innocent study of the chemistry of
years later he accompanied Davy on a carbon compounds, which has led to
trip to the Continent. In 1825, when infinite beneficialresults,showedthat the
hewasthirty-four yearsofage,hebecame action of nitric acid on substances like
Director ofthe Laboratory ofthe Royal benzene, glycerine, cellulose, etc., re-
Institution wherehespent fifty-fouryears sulted not only in the beneficent aniline
ofhis life. dye industry but in the creation ofnitro-
Faraday's interest soon shifted from glycerine, which has usesgood and bad.
chemistry to electricity and magnetism, Somewhat later AlfredNobel, turning to
towhich he devoted the rest ofhisactive the same subject, showed that by mixing
life. Important but puzzling work in nitro-glycerine with other substances,
this field had been previously accom- solid explosives which could be safely
plished by Oersted, Ampere, and Wol- handled could be produced-among
laston. Faraday cleared away the diffi- others, dynamite. It istodynamite that
culties which they had left unsolved and we owe our progress in mining, in the
by 1841had succeeded in the task ofin- making ofsuch railroad tunnels as those
duction of the electric current. Four which now pierce the Alps and other
yearslater a second and equally brilliant mountain ranges; but ofcoursedynamite
epoch in his career opened when he dis- has been abused by politicians and sol-
covered the effectofmagnetism onpolar- diers. Scientists are, however, no more
ized light. His earlier discoveries have to blame than they are to blame for an
led to the infinite number of practical earthquake or a flood. The same thing
applications bymeansofwhichelectricity can be said of poison gas. Pliny was
has lightened the burdens and increased killed by breathing sulphur dioxide in
the opportunities of modern life. His the eruption of Vesuvius almost two
later discoveries have thus far been less thousand years ago. Chlorine was not
prolific of practical results. What dif- isolatedbyscientistsforwarlike purposes,
ference did this make to Faraday? Not and the same is true of mustard gas.
theleast. Atnoperiod ofhisunmatched These substances could be limited to
career was he interested in utility. He beneficent use, but when the airplane
wasabsorbed in disentangling the riddles was perfected, men whose hearts were
ofthe universe, at first chemical riddles, poisoned and whose brains were addled
in later periods, physical riddles. Asfar perceived that the airplane, an innocent
as he cared, the question of utility was invention, the result oflong disinterested
never raised. Any suspicion of utility and scientific effort, could be made an
would have restricted his restless curi- instrument of destruction, of which no
osity. In the end, utility resulted, but it one had ever dreamed and at which no
was never a criterion to which hiscease- one had ever deliberately aimed.
lessexperimentation could be subjected. In the domain of higher mathematics
In the atmosphere whichenvelopesthe almost innumerable instances can be
world to-day it is perhaps timely to em- cited. For example, the most abstruse
THE USEFULNESS OF USELESS KNOWLEDGE 547
mathematical work of the eighteenth liquid helium has brought the side-tracked
and nineteenth centuries was the "Non- Einstein concept to new usefulness. Most
liquidsincreaseinviscosity,becomestickierand
Euclidian Geometry." Its inventor,
flowlesseasily,whentheybecomecolder. The
Gauss, though recognized by his con- phrase "colder than molassesinJanuary" isthe
temporaries as a distinguished mathe- layman's concept ofviscosityand acorrectone.
matician, did not dare to publish his Liquid helium, however, isa baffling excep-
tion. Atthetemperature knownasthe"delta"
work on "Non-Euclidian Geometry" for
point, only 2.19 degrees above absolute zero,
a quarter of a century. As a matter of
liquidhelium flowsbetter than itdoesat higher
fact, the theory ofrelativity itselfwith all temperatures and, asamatter offact,theliquid
itsinfinite practical bearings would have helium isabout as nebulous as a gas. Added
been utterly impossible without the work puzzles in its strange behavior include its
enormousability toconduct heat. Atthedelta
which Gauss did at Gottingen,
point it is about 500times as effective in this
Again, what isknown now as "group respectascopperatroomtemperature. Liquid
theory" wasan abstract and inapplicable helium, with these and other anomalies, has
mathematical theory. It wasdeveloped posed a major mystery for physicists and
chemists.
by men who were curious and whose
ProfessorLondon stated that the interpreta-
curiosity and puttering led them into
tionofthebehavior ofliquid helium canbestbe
strange paths; but "group theory" is explained by considering it as a Bose-Einstein
to-day the basisofthe quantum theory of "ideal" gas, by using the mathematics worked
spectroscopy, which is in daily use by out in 1924-25, and by taking over also some
of the concepts of the electrical conduction of
people who have no idea as to how it
metals. By simple analogy, the amazing
came about. fluidity of liquid helium can be partially ex-
The whole calculus ofprobability was plained by picturing the fluidity as something
discovered by mathematicians whose akin to the wandering ofelectrons in metals to
explain electrical conduction.
real interest was the rationalization of
gambling. It has failed ofthe practical
Let us look in another direction. In
purpose at which they aimed, but it has
the domain ofmedicine and public health
furnished a scientific basisfor all types of
the scienceofbacteriology has played for
insurance, and vast stretches of nine-
half acentury the leading role. What is
teenth century physicsare based upon it.
its story? Following the Franco-Pros-
From arecent number ofScience Iquote
sian War of 1870, the German Govern-
the following:
ment founded the great University of
The stature of Professor Albert Einstein's Strasbourg. Its first professor of anat-
genius reached new heights when it was dis- omy was Wilhelm von Waldeyer, subse-
closedthat the learned mathematical physicist
quently professor of anatomy in Berlin.
developed mathematics fifteenyearsagowhich
are now helping to solve the mysteries of the In hisReminiscences he relates that among
amazing fluidity of helium near the absolute the students who went with him to Stras-
zero of the temperature scale. Before the bourg during his firstsemester there was
symposium on intermolecular action of the
a small, inconspicuous, self-contained
American Chemical Society ProfessorF. Lon-
don, of the University of Paris, now visiting youngster of seventeen by name Paul
professoratDuke University, credited Professor Ehrlich. The usual course in anatomy
Einstein with the concept of an "ideal" gas then consisted of dissection and micro-
which appeared in papers published in 1924
scopic examination of tissues. Ehrlich
and 1925.
paid little or no attention to dissection,
The Einstein 1925 reports were not about
relativity theory, but discussedproblems seem- but, as Waldeyer remarks in his Remi-
ingly without any practical significanceat the mscences:
time. They described the degeneracy of an
"ideal" gasnear the lowerlimitsofthescaleof Inoticed quite earlythat Ehrlich wouldwork
temperature. Because all gases were known long hours at hisdesk, completely absorbed in
to be condensed to liquids at the temperatures microscopic observation. Moreover, his desk
in question, scientists rather overlooked the gradually became coveredwith coloredspotsof
Einstein workoffifteenyears ago. everydescription. AsIsawhimsittingatwork
However, therecently discoveredbehavior of one day, I went up to him and asked what he
548 HARPER'S MAGAZINE
wasdoingwithallhisrainbow array ofcolorson ether-alcohol, and that he pressed this viscous
histable. Thereupon thisyoungstudent inhis solution through capillaries into water which
first semester supposedly pursuing the regular served to coagulate the cellulose nitrate fila-
courseinanatomy lookedup atmeand blandly ment. After the coagulation, this filament
remarked, "Ich probiere:" This might befreely entered the air and waswound up on bobbins.
translated, "I amtrying" or"I amjustfooling." One day Chardonnet inspected hisFrench fac-
I replied tohim, "Very well. Goonwithyour tory at Besan••on. By an accident the water
fooling." Soon I saw that without any teach- which should coagulate the cellulose nitrate
ing or direction whatsoever on my part I pos- filament was stopped. The workmen found
sessedin Ehrlich a student ofunusual quality. that the spinning operation went much better
without water than with water. This was the
Waldeyer wiselylefthim alone. Ehr- birthday of the very important processof dry
lich made his way precariously through spinning, which isactually carried out on the
greatest scale.
the medical curriculum and ultimately
procured his degree mainly because it
III
wasobvious to his teachers that he had
no intention of ever putting his medical I am not fora moment suggestingthat
degree to practical use. He went subse- everything that goes on in laboratories
quently to Breslau where he worked will ultimately turn to some unexpected
under Professor Cohnheim, the teacher practical use or that an ultimate prac-
of our own Dr. Welch, founder and tical useisitsactualjustification. Much
maker of the Johns Hopkins Medical more am I pleading for the abolition of
School. I do not suppose that the idea the word "use," and forthe freeingofthe
ofuse ever crossed Ehrlich's mind. He human spirit. To be sure, weshall thus
wasinterested. He wascurious; hekept free some harmless cranks. To be sure,
on fooling. Of course his fooling was we shall thus waste some precious dol-
guided by a deep instinct, but it was a lars. But what isinfinitely more impor-
purelyscientific,notanutilitarianmotiva- tant is that we shall be striking the
tion. What resulted? Koch and his shacklesoffthe human mind and setting
associates established a new science, the it free for the adventures which in our
science of bacteriology. Ehrlich's ex- own day have, on the one hand, taken
periments were now applied by a fellow Hale and Rutherford and Einstein and
student, Weigert, tostaining bacteria and their peers millions upon millions of
thereby assisting in their differentiation. miles into the uttermost realms ofspace
Ehrlich himself developed the staining and, on the other, loosed the boundless
ofthe blood filmwith the dyes on which energy imprisoned in the atom. What
our modern knowledge of the morphol- Rutherford and others like Bohr and
ogy of the blood corpuscles, red and Millikan have done out ofsheercuriosity
white, is based. Not a day passes but in the effort to understand the construc-
that in thousands of hospitals the world tionofthe atom hasreleased forceswhich
over Ehrlich's technic isemployed in the may transform human life; but this
examination of the blood. Thus the ultimate and unforeseen and unpre-
apparently aimlessfooling in Waldeyer's dictable practical result isnot offeredasa
dissectingroom inStrasbourg hasbecome justification forRutherford or Einstein or
a main factor in the daily practice of Millikan or Bohr or any of their peers.
medicine. Let them alone. No educational ad-
I shallgiveoneexample fromindustry, ministrator can possiblydirect the chan-
one selected at random; for there are nels in which these or other men shall
scores besides. Professor Berl, of the work. The waste, I admit again, looks
Carnegie Institute of Technology (Pitts- prodigious. It isnot really so. All the
burgh) writes as follows: waste that could be summed up in de-
veloping the scienceof bacteriology isas
The founder of the modem rayon industry
nothing compared to the advantages
was the French Count Chardonnet. It is
known that heusedasolutionofnitro cotton in which have accrued from the discoveries
THE USEFULNESS OF USELESS KNOWLEDGE 549
of Pasteur, Koch, Ehrlich, Theobald same category: both were made by thor-
Smith, and scoresofothers-advantages oughly scientificmen, who realized that
that could never have accrued ifthe idea much "useless" knowledge had been
of possible use had permeated their piled up by men unconcerned with its
.minds. These great artists-for such practical bearings, but that the time was
are scientists and bacteriologists-dis- now ripe to raise practical questions in
seminated the spirit which prevailed in a scientificmanner.
laboratories in which they were simply Thus itbecomesobviousthat onemust
following the line of their own natural be waryinattributing scientificdiscovery
curiosity. whollytoanyone person. Almostevery
I am not criticising institutions like discovery has a long and precarious his-
schoolsofengineering orlawinwhich the tory. Someonefindsa bit here, another
usefulness motive necessarily predomi- a bit there. A third step succeedslater
nates. Not infrequently the tables are and thus onward till a genius pieces the
turned, and practical difficulties en- bits together and makes the decisivecon-
countered in industry or in laboratories tribution. Science, like the Mississippi,
stimulate theoretical inquiries whichmay begins in a tiny rivulet in the distant
or may not solvethe problems by which forest. Gradually other streams swell
they were suggested, but may also open its volume. And the roaring river that
up newvistas,uselessat the moment, but bursts the dikes isformed from countless
pregnant withfuture achievements, prac- sources.
tical and theoretical. I cannot deal with this aspect ex-
With the rapid accumulation of"use- haustively, but I may in passingsaythis:
less" or theoretic knowledge a situation over a period of one or two hundred
has been created in which it has become years the contributions of professional
increasingly possible to attack practical schools to their respective activities will
problems in a scientificspirit. Not only probably be found tolie,not somuch in
inventors, but "pure" scientists have in- the training ofmen who may to-morrow
dulged in this sport. I have mentioned become practical engineers or practical
Marconi, an inventor, who,whileabene- lawyers or practical doctors, but rather
factor to the human race, as a matter of in the fact that even in the pursuit of
fact merely "picked other men's brains." strictly practical aims an enormous
Edison belongs to the same category. amount of apparently useless activity
Pasteur was different. He was a great goes on. Out of this useless activity
scientist; but he was not averse to at- there come discoveries which may well
tacking practical problems-such as the prove of infinitely more importance to
condition of French grapevines or the the human mind and tothe human spirit
problems ofbeer-brewing-and not only than the accomplishment of the useful
solvingthe immediate difficulty,but also ends forwhich the schoolswerefounded.
wrestingfromthepractical problem some The considerations upon which I have
far-reaching theoretic conclusion, "use- touched emphasize-if emphasis were
less" at the moment, but likely in some needed-the overwhelming importance
unforeseen manner to be "useful" later. of spiritual and intellectual freedom. I
Ehrlich, fundamentally speculative in have spoken of experimental science; I
his curiosity, turned fiercely upon the have spoken ofmathematics; but what I
problem of syphilis and doggedly pur- sayisequally true ofmusicand art and of
sued it until a solution of immediate every other expression of the untram-
practical use-the discovery ofsalvarsan meledhuman spirit. The merefactthat
-was found. The discoveriesofinsulin they bring satisfaction to an individual
by Banting for use in diabetes and of soul bent upon its own purification and
liver extract by Minot and Whipple for elevation isall thejustification that they
use in pernicious anemia belong in the need. And in justifying these without
550 HARPER'S MAGAZINE
any reference whatsoever, implied or throughout the range of human dissimi-
actual, to usefulness we justify colleges, larities. In the faceofthe history ofthe
universities, and institutes of research. human race what can be more silly or
An institution which sets free successive ridiculous than likes or dislikes founded
generations of human souls is amply upon race or religion? Does humanity
justified whether or not this graduate or want symphonies and paintings and pro-
that makes a so-called useful contribu- found scientific truth, or does it want
tion to human knowledge. A poem, a Christian symphonies, Christian paint-
symphony, a painting, a mathematical ings, Christian science, or Jewish sym-
truth, a new scientific fact, all bear in phonies,Jewish paintings, Jewish science,
themselves all the justification that uni- or Mohammedan or Egyptian or Japa-
versities, colleges, and institutes of re- nese or Chinese or American or German
search need or require. or Russian or Communist or Conserva-
The subject which I am discussinghas tive contributions to and expressions of
at this moment a peculiar poignancy. the infinite richnessofthe human soul?
In certain large areas-Germany and
Italy especially-the effort is now being
IV
made to clamp down the freedom ofthe
human spirit. Universities have been Among the most striking and imme-
so reorganized that they have become diate consequences offoreign intolerance
tools of those who believe in a special I may, I think, fairlycitethe rapid devel-
political, economic, or racial creed. opment of the Institute for Advanced
Now and then a thoughtless individual Study, established by Mr. Louis Bam-
in one ofthe fewdemocracies left in this berger and hissister, Mrs. Felix Fuld, at
world will even question the funda- Princeton, NewJersey. The founding of
mental importance of absolutely un- the Institute was suggested in 1930. It
trammeled academic freedom. The real was located at Princeton partly because
enemy ofthe human race isnot the fear- of the founders' attachment to the State
less and irresponsible thinker, be he ofNewJersey, but, in sofar asmyjudg-
right or wrong. The real enemy is the ment was concerned, because Princeton
man who tries to mold the human spirit had a small graduate school of high
sothat it willnot dare tospread itswings, quality with which the most intimate co-
as its wings were once spread in Italy operation was feasible. To Princeton
and Germany, aswellasin Great Britain University the Institute owesa debt that
and the United States. can never be fully appreciated. The
This is not a new idea. It was the work ofthe Institute with a considerable
idea which animated von Humboldt portion of its personnel began in 1933.
when, in the hour of Germany's con- On its faculty are eminent American
quest by Napoleon, he conceived and scholars-Veblen, Alexander, and Morse,
founded the University of Berlin. It is among themathematicians; Meritt, Lowe,
the idea which animated President Gil- and Miss Goldman among the human-
man in the founding of the Johns Hop- ists;Stewart, Riefl.er,Warren, Earle, and
kins University, after which every uni- Mitrany among the publicists and econo-
versity in this country has sought in mists. And to these should be added
greater or less degree to remake itself. scholars and scientists of equal caliber
It is the idea to which every individual already assembled in Princeton Univer-
who values hisimmortal soulwillbe true sity, Princeton's library, and its labora-
whatever the personal consequences to tories. But the Institute for Advanced
himself. Justification of spiritual free- Study isindebted to Hitler for Einstein,
dom goes, however, much farther than Weyl, and von Neumann in mathe-
originality whether inthe realm ofscience matics; for Herzfeld and Panofsky in the
or humanism, for it implies tolerance fieldofhumanistic studies, and fora host
THE USEFULNESS OF USELESS KNOWLEDGE 551
ofyounger men who during the past six I replied: "You have.no duties-only
years have come under the influence of opportunities. "
this distinguished group and are already An able young mathematician, having
adding to the strength of American spent ayear at Princeton, came to bid me
scholarship in every section of the land. good-by. As he was about to leave, he
The Institute is, from the standpoint remarked:
of organization, the simplest and least "Perhaps you would liketo know what
formal thing imaginable. It consists of this year has meant to me."
three schools-a School ofMathematics, "Yes," I answered.
a School ofHumanistic Studies, a School "Mathematics," he rejoined, "is de-
ofEconomics and Politics. Each school veloping rapidly; the current literature is
ismade up ofa permanent group ofpro- extensive. It isnow over ten years since
fessorsand an annually changing group I took my Ph.D. degree. For a while I
of members. Each school manages its could keep up with my subject; but lat-
own affairs as it pleases; within each terly that has become increasingly diffi-
group each individual disposes of his cult and uncertain. Now, after a year
time and energy as he pleases. The here, the blinds are raised; the room is
members who already have come from light; the windows are open. I have in
twenty-two foreign countries and thirty- my head two papers that I shall shortly
nine institutions ofhigher learning in the write."
United States are admitted, if deemed "How long will this last?" I asked.
worthy, bytheseveralgroups. They enjoy "Five years, perhaps ten."
precisely the same freedom as the pro- "Then what?"
fessors. They may work with this or "I shall come back."
that professor, as they severally arrange; A third example is of recent occur-
they may work alone, consulting from rence. A professor in a large Western
time to time anyone likely to be helpful. university arrived in Princeton at the end
Noroutine isfollowed;nolinesaredrawn of last December. He had in mind to
between professors,members, or visitors. resume some work with Professor Morey
Princeton students and professorsand In- (at. Princeton University). But Morey
stitute members and professorsmingle so suggested that he might find it worth
freelyastobeindistinguishable. Learn- while to see Panofsky and Swarzenski
ing assuch iscultivated. The results to (at the Institute). Now he isbusy with
the individual and to society are left to all three.
take care of themselves. No faculty "I shall stay," he added, "until next
meetings are held; no committees exist. October."
Thus men with ideas enjoy conditions "You will find it hot in midsummer,"
favorable to reflection and to conference. I said.
A mathematician may cultivate mathe- "I shall be too busy and too happy to
matics without distraction; so may a notice it."
humanist in his field, an economist or a Thus freedom brings not stagnation,
student of politics in his. Administra- but rather the danger ofoverwork. The
tion has been minimized in extent and wife of an English member recently
importance. Men without ideas, with- asked:
out power of concentration on ideas, "Does everyone work until two o'clock
would not be at home in the Institute. in the morning?"
I can perhaps make this point clearer The Institute has had thus far no
by citing briefly a few illustrations. A building. At this moment the mathe-
stipend wasawarded toenable aHarvard maticians are guests of the Princeton
professorto come to Princeton: he wrote mathematicians in Fine Hall; someofthe
asking, humanists are guests of the Princeton
"What are my duties?" humanists in McCormick Hall; others
552 HARPER'S MAGAZINE
work in rooms scattered through the who from time to time can be lured to
town. The economists now occupy a Princeton from distant places. Among
suite at The Princeton Inn. My own these Niels Bohr has come from Copen-
quarters are located in an officebuilding hagen, von Laue from Berlin, Levi
on Nassau Street, where I work among Civita from Rome, Andre Weil from
shopkeepers, dentists, lawyers, chiro- Strasbourg, Dirac and G. H. Hardy from
praetors, and groups of Princeton schol- Cambridge, Pauli from Zurich, Lemaitre
arsconducting alocal government survey from Louvain, Wade-Gery from Oxford,
and a study of population. Bricks and and Americans from Harvard, Yale,
mortar are thus quite inessential, as Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Chi-
President Gilman proved in Baltimore cago, California, and other centers of
sixty-odd years ago. Nevertheless, we light and learning.
miss informal contact with one another We make ourselves no promises, but
and are about to remedy this defect by wecherish thehope that theunobstructed
the erection ofabuilding provided bythe pursuit of useless knowledge will prove
founders, to be called Fuld Hall. But to have consequences in the future as in
formality shall go no farther. The In- the past. Not for a moment, however,
stitute must remain small; and it will do we defend the Institute on that
hold fast to the conviction that The In- ground. It exists as a paradise for
stitute Group desiresleisure,security,free- scholars who, like poets and musicians,
dom from organization and routine, and, have won the right to do as they please
finally, informal contacts with the schol- and who accomplish most when enabled
ars of Princeton University and others to do so.
