than expected on the basis of the numbers of their high-school seniors. The study indicated that these differences were related to educational and economic standards in the States (10).

Other large companies like the General Electric Co. and the Chrysler Corp., interested in encouraging the early discovery and development of scientific talent, have arranged intensive observation or training programs to acquaint high-school teachers and counselors with work in industry. The President's Scientific Research Board has recently discussed at some length the need to identify potential scientists early and has made some suggestions as to how this can be done (48). Certainly, parents, counselors, teachers, employers, and others whose advice may be sought by young women interested in science should be wary of discouraging the development of a talent that may be rare. Earnings and Supply

Among research scientists, according to the President's Research Board, psychological satisfactions take precedence over financial rewards (47). The true scientist is likely to resemble Democritus when he said "Rather would I explain the cause of a single fact than become King of the Persians." He is more often found in a university teaching and working in fundamental research where salaries are relatively lower than he is in an applied science laboratory devoted to development or research for a single industry where salaries are usually better. He is more concerned about the quality of his laboratory equipment and assistance and with his freedom of thought and action than he is with the size of his income beyond that required for a reasonable standard of living. The limit to which the rest of society can go in exploiting this preoccupation, however, has been reached, judging from the number of scientists who left university teaching and research positions during the war and have not returned. The importance of basic research to society requires that it be recognized and rewarded as the well-spring from which much real wealth and employment flow. Recent Nation-wide information on earnings was available for only a few of the scientific fields in 1947. But they are indicative. The median of the earnings of men and women physiologists, most of whom had a doctor's degree, was $5,050, in 1945. For the women, alone, the median was only $3,200. Only part of this difference can be explained by the fact that 17 percent of the women lacked the doctorate, while 2 percent of the men were without it (4). The median for a group of 110 women bacteriologists in 1947, three-fourths of whom had a master's or doctor's degree, was $3,400. The median of the professional earnings of 94 women engineers in 1946 was $3,576. That for a group of men engineers with comparable length of experience (approximately 8 years) was $4,320 (11). The most recent information

on earnings of chemists dates from the end of 1943, when the median for women beginners was $1,884 a year as compared with $2,076 for men without experience; the highest paid group of women, those with 3812 years of experience, had a median of $4,512, while the median for men with experience of that length was higher by $840.

In other fields, too, the usual range of salaries for women as indicated by scattered reports was from $1,800 to $5,000, except for executive or other top jobs which reached, but seldom exceeded, $10,000. In a few fields, like astronomy, zoology, and biology, salaries as low as $1,300 were sometimes reported for beginners in some research institutions and medical laboratories.

In college teaching the range of salaries tends to be wide, varying with the size and wealth of the institution and not infrequently with the scarcity value of the particular instructor and his bargaining power.

A random sampling of one in six science teachers in colleges and universities accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools showed a range of salary from less than $2,000 to more than $7,000 a year in 1946. The median salary fell between $3,000 and $3,999, which was also the salary level in which the largest group was found. Two-thirds received less than $4,000 (48).

Figure 15.-A biologist engaged in the study of the effect of radiation on mammals at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In 1946-47, the median salary of high-school teachers in cities of 100,000 and over was $3,593, that in small communities of 2,500-5,000 population was $2,274. The range was from less than $700 to more than $4,800 (19).

In the Federal Government in 1947, salaries were standard, being $2,644 for a beginning professional position (Ph. D.'s usually started at $1,400 more). The top ceiling in 1947 was $10,000, except for such exceptions as the Congress would authorize. The median pay for Government scientists as reported by the President's Scientific Research Board in 1947 was less than $4,500, while the average for those with a bachelor's degree was $4,637; for those with a master's degree, $5,104, and for Ph. D.'s, $6,340 (47).

ORGANIZATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL

A network of organizations provides opportunity for scientists to advance and share their knowledge and to promote higher standards in their fields both in quality of scientific work and in working conditions.

More than 1,200 societies and organizations in the natural sciences and technology were listed by the National Research Council in 1942 (20). The principal organizations in each of the major scientific fields and the extent to which women participate in them are described in other bulletins in this series. Only the principal groups which bring together scientists in many fields are mentioned here.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, originated in 1848 with an initial membership of 461, in 1947 had more than 33,000 individual members interested in promoting scientific work. A very small percentage, perhaps as low as 1 percent, were women, according to an estimate of the Association. Its 15 sections, each headed by a vice president, were: Mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology and geography, zoological sciences, botanical sciences, anthropology, psychology, social and economic sciences, history and philosophy of science, engineering, medical sciences, agriculture, and education.

It served in 1947 as an integrating group for 203 affiliated and associated societies whose members totaled nearly 1,000,000, although there was of course duplication among them. Some 37 academies of science in States and cities were among the affiliated groups.

The National Academy of Sciences was incorporated by act of Congress in 1863 to advance science and to investigate and report on any subject of science or art whenever called upon by any department of the Government of the United States. There are 11 sections of the Academy: Mathematics, astronomy, physics, engineering, chemistry, geology and paleontology, botany zoology and anatomy, physiology and biochemistry, pathology and bacteriology, and anthropology and psychology. Membership is by election and is limited to 350. In 1947, only two women were members, one in the botany section and one in pathology and bacteriology.

The National Research Council is a quasi-governmental organization organized in 1916 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the President of the United States. It promotes research

in the physical and biological sciences and encourages the application and dissemination of scientific knowledge for the benefit of the Nation. Its 220 members represent 85 national scientific organizations, Government agencies, and other research institutions and include a limited number of members-at-large. In 1947, 3 of its members were women, 2 in anthropology and 1 a nutritionist in the Division of Biology and Agriculture. The divisions of the Council are: Physical sciences, engineering and industrial research, chemistry and chemical technology, geology and geography, medical sciences, biology and agriculture, anthropology and psychology, foreign relations, and educational relations. Its Office of Scientific Personnel was in 1947 engaged in a study of the supply of Ph. D.'s in the sciences.

Among the many honorary and social fraternities in the scientific fields such as Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi to which a few women have been elected, there is a national graduate women's scientific fraternity called Sigma Delta Epsilon, the only woman's organization to be affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1946 it had 15 chapters with about 500 active members. It furthers interest in science, provides for the recognition of women in science, and brings them together in a fraternal relationship. To be eligible for membership, a woman must hold a degree from a recognized institution of learning and must be, or have been, engaged in scientific research. A scholarship fund for women in science provides an annual scholarship, alternately predoctoral and postdoctoral.

In 1946 the Technical and Scientific Division of the United Office and Professional Workers of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations, successor to the CIO International Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians, announced its launching as an organization to cover "technical, scientific and salaried employees in industrial establishments, engineering and design offices, laboratories, and offices." Figures on national membership were not available, but the Washington representative reported 250 members in the Washington, D. C., chapter in December 1946.