I would love to see/hear this lecture.

My own work with this stuff involved looking at the change of mechanism to fund scientific and technological discovery from prize to grant, i.e. from rewards for past accomplishment to payments for future effort. Whereas the prize system meant that the players must necessarily be aristocrats with time and money to mess around in their “spare time”, grants allowed science to become a true profession practiced by anyone with some education and talents of persuasion. The great example is John Harrison, subject of the book “Longitude”, who spent decades trying to build a clock that could be used for navigation so that he could win the Board of Longitude Prizes (1714). Interestingly, the Board was never satisfied enough to award the full prizes BUT did review a few half solutions that they felt were good enough to be given “small advances”; perhaps the first “grants” (??). Harrison’s total advances over many years were about equal to the original prize itself.

Grants of course also changed the dynamic from “look what I’ve done to solve your problem” to “trust me enough to do my proposed work that you too should think is important.” = Grantsmanship!

I use this story to convince junior faculty that there is an essential human transaction that takes place with the reading of every grant proposal: applicant actively solicits the approval and TRUST of the reviewer.

Charlie

*************************************

Charles B. Hathaway, Ph.D.

Assistant Dean for Research Administration

Director, Office of Research Administration

School of Medicine

New York Medical College

40 Sunshine Cottage Road, GN-B28

Valhalla, NY 10595-1524

914.594.2600

xxxxxx@nymc.edu

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Andrea Buford
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 8:04 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] first federal research grant

I have a whole lecture on the history of grant-making and philanthropy in the culture (meaning U.S. culture) that I use for the grad class in grant-writing that I teach. Anyone’s welcome to it. I take it back to the founding and funding of Harvard, when residents of the colonies were taxed to fund the university. That pre-dates the Lewis and Clark expedition, but it also pre-dates the federal government – and therefore doesn’t really answer your question ;)

Anyway, the lecture is just sitting there in Adobe Presenter, should anyone care to listen while you’re on the treadmill. It’s not quite as motivating as “It’s Raining Men” but …. what are your gonna do????

Andrea

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Jennifer Shambrook
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 5:27 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] first federal research grant

If Ken Beasley or Chuck Chermside were still here, they would know the answer off the top of their heads.

To add to the discussion while still not answering the question:

The constitution was written with specific language to insure that citizens had the right to own their discoveries, so research and intellectual property rights were treated as important topics all the way back to founding of our country.

-Jennifer

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 10, 2015, at 7:59 PM, Scott Niles <xxxxxx@MOREHEADSTATE.EDU> wrote:

Hi Molly,

Not sure if I can answer definitively, but part of my literature review for my dissertation dealt with a cursory history of federal research policy:

The federal government’s efforts to support research were largely unorganized until the 1940s; however, the idea of supporting arts and sciences development dates back to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, where several delegates advocated for Congressional assistance to various projects that would advance knowledge and stimulate commerce (Beasley, 2006).

So, while this doesn't answer the question, one could infer that federal assistance for scientific purposes may have happened before the Lewis & Clark expedition. It's certainly an interesting question I'd love to hear more about!

Scott

Sent from my Apple IIe

On Jun 10, 2015, at 4:30 PM, Molly Daniel <xxxxxx@SBLHS.ORG> wrote:

I will admit that it is not a burning question, but I’m curious – what project received the first U.S. federal research grant? Could it have been the Corps of Discovery (Lewis & Clark Expedition)?

---------------------------

Molly Daniel

Grants Specialist

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center

Prairie Pavilion 1

1005 Health Center Drive, Suite 208

Mattoon, IL 61938-9253

voice 217-258-2195, fax 258-4135

Email: xxxxxx@sblhs.org

www.sarahbush.org

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