Chemist Describes Role, Position Of Physical Scientists in Russia

The advantage of a physical sciences carreer in Russia can hardly be overestimated, Paul M. Doty, Professor of Chemistry, told the Associaton of Graduate Students in Chemistry last night. Doty spent 12 days last May in Moscow and Leningrad.

"In addition to generous financial rewards, Russian scientists enjoy official recognition for their achievements," Doty said. "Another very important advantage is the absence of governmental interference, and this factor alone leads many students into scientific careers."

Russian respect for the physical sciences stems from the influence of a single individual, Doty explained. "He was the great American scientist, Langmuir, who convinced leading Soviet scientists in the Thirties that, if they did basic research well, practical results would follow."

Doty attacked the "popular notion" that the Russian challenge exists only in science and material progress. "While watching our comparative production curves," he noted, "we tend to overlook certain problems in education, for instance." A million Russians speak English, he said, and a "dynamic concern for learning English penetrates much of the society."

Asked whether Soviet scientists select their own research problems, Doty remarked that "people as high as professor can choose their own work maybe half the time, depending on the director of their scientific institutes."

The opportunity to do graduate work is highly regarded in the Soviet Union, said Doty.

Doty noticed "a distinct segregation" of teaching and research men. Moscow University is not a research center in the sense of M.I.T. or Harvard," he explained. "The Moscow researchers are in a self-contained Institute ten miles away."