Some Numbers

GROWTH RATE IN FEDERAL SUPPORT OF BASIC RESEARCH:

Our thanks to the American Mathematical Society for their computation of the following numbers.

Below are rounded percentage rates for the annualized growth in federal support of basic research in constant dollars. These figures represent the annual compound interest rate needed to increase federal support between the two years; rates for individual years can be higher or lower.

1952 1959 18.7% 1960 1969 11.6 1970 1979 2.0 1980 1989 4.6 1990 1999 2.2 1960 1989 5.5% 1960 1999 4.6 1970 1989 3.3 1970 1999 2.9 1980 1999 3.4 1990 1997 1.4 1990 1998 1.3 1996 1998 1.0 1996 1999 3.8 1997 1999 5.0 CHANGE IN THE MIX OF FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDING BY FIELD:

The National Science Foundation’s Division of Science Resources Studies provided the following figures in a February 17, 1999 Issue Brief. The entire brief may be viewed at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/issuebrf/ib99328.htm

These figures represent the “Changes in field shares of total Federal research funding: 1970-97.” They do not represent changes in the number of dollars. For instance, federal support in constant dollars for physical sciences is up 16% in the period 1970 to 1997. These number do show “how the overall research emphasis of the Federal Government, regardless of performer type, has changed between 1970 and 1997.”

Engineering: The share of federal support went down from 31.4% in 1970 to 19.4% in 1997 Physical Sciences: Down 19.3% to 14.1% Social Sciences: Down 4.3% to 2.4% Psychology: Down 2.2% to 1.9% Environmental Sciences: Up 9.9% to 10.4% Math and Computer Sciences: Up 1.9% to 5.7% Life Sciences: Up 29.4% to 43.1%