SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 142, 6 September 1927, Page 16

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

PLEA FOR ASSOCIATION MUTUAL ADVANTAGES A plea for closer association between science and industry was made by Dr. M. A. Hunter last evening in an address to the Auckland Chemical Society. Dr. Hunter, who graduated at Auckland University College, is professor of electro-metallurgy at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in the United States Dr. Hunter said that the old English tradition was that the scientist was superior to industry. Most scientists liked to dwell apart, but they were driven by economic necessity to have some association with industry. The old tradition had never been deeply rooted in the United States, and one of the reasons for the success of American industry was the realisation of what science could do for it. Illustrating this, the speaker said that science had been brought to the aid of industry in the vast research laboratories established by the General Electric Company and the Western Electric Company. Dr. Hunter said that the same excellent results could be obtained in New Zealand if firms “clubbed together. That was, if the employment of chemical aid by individual companies was not thought to be possible. Certain advantages were also to be gained by encouraging university professors to turn their attention to industrial research. "I do not consider that I have lowered my dignity in any way by having contact with industry,” said the speaker. "although I would have thbught so at one time.”