Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/622

616 fact that in the course of four years the states of Illinois and Wisconsin have increased their scientific men of standing by 27, while New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have lost 23, is significant not only of what has happened but also of what is likely to happen in the course of the next two or three decades. As civilization moves westward, these great north central states may be for a time the chief scientific center of the country; and not only this, for it is quite possible that they may become the chief intellectual and artistic center of the world.

articles referred to contain a large mass of statistics in regard to the origin and distribution of our scientific men. The 238 men who have attained scientific standing within recent years fill the places left vacant by those who have died and of those who have failed to maintain their position among the thousand. Only one foreign man of science has come to this country of such distinction that he would surely have deserved a place on the previous list, whereas ten have returned to their native countries. Six women have been added, and the total number of women on the list is 18, two of whom are among the second hundred. Those who have obtained places on the list are nearly all between 30 and 45 years of age. There are none over 55; but one over 45 reaches a place as high as the fifth hundred. Only six are under 30, and this fact seems to indicate a lack of men of genius, who as a rule demonstrate their ability at an early age.

Harvard has a dominant position in the education of these men and in retaining them as instructors. It has given its bachelor's degree to 20 and its doctor's degree to 27, and 22 are on its teaching staff. Chicago stands next to Harvard, having an equal number of doctors and having 13 of the men among its instructors. Yale follows Harvard and Chicago both in regard to the men it has educated and the men it has retained. These three institutions are followed by the Johns Hopkins and Cornell in the number of degrees conferred and by Wisconsin and the Johns Hopkins in the number of instructors. The colleges of the eastern states have been less productive of scientific men than the technical schools or the colleges of the state universities.

There are 201 men still living who have failed to maintain their places among the thousand. Of these 49 reside in the state of New York. There, as in the other Atlantic states south of New England, the immense wealth appears to be unfavorable to scientific research.

The gain or loss of position of each man is known. Those under forty are likely to gain and those over this age are likely to lose. The average age of the 1,000 scientific men is 48 years; the average age of the first hundred is 54.8 years. The average age for the bachelor degree is 22.2 years and for the doctorate of philosophy, 28.4 years.

Three fourths of all our scientific men earn their living by teaching, about one tenth in the government service and about one twentieth by applied science. There are only eleven scientific men of standing who may be classed as amateurs, whereas in Great Britain this class is responsible for a considerable part of the research work which is accomplished.

Of our thousand leading scientific men 80 are at Harvard, 48 at Columbia and the same number at Chicago, 38 at Yale, 35 at Cornell, 34 at the Johns Hopkins and 30 at Wisconsin. One half of all the instructors at Clark are among our leading men of science, whereas in certain institutions there is but one in fifty. The institutions which stand the highest are Clark, the Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Stanford, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, Wesleyan, Case and Princeton. These institutions have at least one scientific man of