Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-12-02
Condor Blasts Secrecy
In Scientific Matters
In Quiz on Views

A stern blast against secrecy in
scientific Notwithstanding the
atomic bomb-was issued last
night by DR.. Edward q. Condor.
director OF the Bureau Of STAND
ards.
: DR.. Condor, who was once &C
cused by the House Committee on
Un-American Activities of being
the weakest link" in the Nations
atomic security, addressed the
Unitarian Laymen's League IN the
All Souls Church. Sixteenth and
Harvard streets NV.
For successful cultivation,
science must have complete free
DOM" declared DR.. Condor. This
does not mean, he said, freedom
from limitations Of any kind" but
complete intellectual freedom"
On Academic Freedom.
In answer to a question. DR..
Condor also told how he stood
on academic freedom"
II feel we should not discharge
a man from q university on the
basis Of membership in any politi-
cal organization - including the
Communist Party-and on that
basis alone"
II, however, said the scientist,
a man is charged with disseminat-
ing Communistic doctrines, threat
of dismissal should be put ION
those grounds alone"
And to another questioner.
from among the 200 in attend
ance, who asked his views on
whether Government censorship"
is driving out" scientists from
the fields of research, DR.. Con-
don declared:
IT do think there is an excess
sive amount of this hysterical
stuff" In regard to witch hunt
ing" and the like, but Il think
it has passed its peak"
A scientist of his own acquaint-
ance, DR.. Condor continued. had
encountered difficulty in getting
a position with Johns Hopkins
University-an example of pure
FBI fatheadisrn,"
Not Obliged to Make Bomb.
Scientific progress. said DR..
Condor, sis an altogether differ
ent matter" from applications OF
that work-such as the atomic
bomb.
I'VE are not obliged to make
an atomic. bomb" he said. "just
because we know how to make
them, any more than we were
obliged, by the invention Of the
power loom, to make children Ia
Dor long hours in insanitary con-
ditions."
In this aspect, the scientist
himself is put in somewhat OF a
dilemma, he continued. There
has been a tendency. he declared,
to encourage on the part of scien-
lists a lack of interest in such
applications.
"A good example Of this" he
asserted, "is in the general work.
ing over which the House Com
mittee on Un-A American Activities
has been giving to those scientists
who were particularly concerned
about the social and political
problems raised by the use OF
atomic energy" az a
The evil, he said, is in the use
men make of knowledge, not in
the knowledge itself. /
As for secrecy imposed, by the
Government in hoping to spre-
serve a monopoly, as in the case
of the atom bomb, the important
point to realize, said DR.. Condor,
is that such monopolies are al
ways temporary.
st don't say there should be no
secrecy whatever" he continued,
but secrecy contributes nothing
to the development of science"
1t not only prevents progress. he
declared, but keeps erroneous
views from being weeded out.
From the point of view OF
those who merely wish results"
declared the Bureau of Standards
chief, "they must learn that, If
they try too much to direct the
work of the scientists, they are
In great danger of killing the