Page:The Bell System Technical Journal, Volume 1, 1922.pdf/2

2 Upwards of one hundred years ago there was adopted in earnest by scientific men, principally in university laboratories, the program of searching deeper into the unknown, to discover new principles and new relationships of a king which had at the time very little apparent practical interest to mankind as a whole.

Out of this work, and in time, have grown entirely new industries. From the fact that these industries sprang directly from the research laboratory, it was inevitable that they should be conspicuous because of the number of their men trained in the methods of scientific research. Equally inevitable was it that these new fields of endeavor, originating as they did and being staffed as they were, should be the ground where industrial research would find its first and largest development. And not the least of the advantages which obtained in these newer industries was the absence of age-long traditions tending to ultra-conservatism as to new undertakings, and more particularly as to the employment of the new types of mind.

The results up to the present indicate clearly that the electrical and chemical fields in industry as we know them today, are the places where the greatest advances have been made in the utilization of research methods and research men. Other, older and more basic industries are rapidly following the general path marked out by the successes already obtained in these fields. Hence, it is expected that shortly all industrial activities will be based on the results obtained by trained investigators, using the tools of modern scientific investigation.

Just as applied electricity is a leading exemplar of the benefits to be obtained by an intelligent use of scientific knowledge, so electrical communication of intelligence is a leading exemplar in the field of applied electricity. This branch of applied electricity is a pioneer among those recognizing the practical value of scientific research. It is interesting to note that electrical communication is credited with having organized a research laboratory prior to the first university course in electrical engineering.

More than ever before, the communication engineer must seek exact solutions of his problems. If his results do not always attain the certainty he desires, the reason is the absence of complete knowledge with regard to one or more essential facts. But true knowledge of what things limit the solution of a problem is frequently more than half the battle of obtaining the missing facts. Sometimes these unknown facts can be obtained by a search though the remoter parts of the vast scientific storehouses which have been built in times past. Frequently, however, the search discloses the entire absence