1.3.
MANAGEMENT OF THE LABORATORY
7
tory be a technician for every physicist, chemist, engineer, bacteriologist,
virologist, zoologist, botanist, pathologist, or anatomist who may walk in
with a naive notion of a problem. No truly able, independently minded,
qualified electron microscopist will put up with this for long. His energy
and originality would be dissipated in unfruitful directions. It is an
intolerable situation for a person of advanced training and highly technical knowledge. In general, "service laboratories" do not work and
cannot be expected to work!
Typical of this common administrative attitude was a grant application
to a federal agency for funds to establish an electron microscope laboratory which was reviewed by this writer. The application came from a
university, and outlined over 20 separate projects by as many different
investigators, in at least a dozen different departments, all of which
supposedly were to go on simultaneously. It was, of course, obvious that
all of the scientific departments in the school had been circularized and
urged to submit something reasonable that might bolster the application.
So far as this author knows, only one of the names on the entire list had
the slightest knowledge of electron microscopy. He shudders to think
what would have happened if this idealized program actually had been
initiated. Fortunately the granting agencies of the United States Government, which have been involved in medical and biological support
programs, seem to have been well advised about electron microscopy.
They have been quite liberal in giving away microscopes, but only when
they could be sure that they would be operated by properly trained and
qualified individuals. Their attitude has been "find the man, and we'll
give you the scope."
It is only under the most extraordinary of circumstances that a "service
laboratory" can turn out a volume of quality work. This is because the
man who operates the microscope must know what he is doing at all
levels of the investigation. Most particularly, he must be able to form
technically sophisticated opinions about what he sees on the
fluorescent
screen. In histological or cytological study, trained professional judgment
is essential in the selection of suitable fields to be photographed. The
investigator himself must spend hours that stretch out to days and months
at the microscope. This cannot be a part-time job if the problem has any
complexity at all. Successful electron microscopy is a very individualistic
discipline which inevitably represents much effort on the part of the
investigator rather than being delegated work. This is particularly true
MANAGEMENT OF THE LABORATORY
7
tory be a technician for every physicist, chemist, engineer, bacteriologist,
virologist, zoologist, botanist, pathologist, or anatomist who may walk in
with a naive notion of a problem. No truly able, independently minded,
qualified electron microscopist will put up with this for long. His energy
and originality would be dissipated in unfruitful directions. It is an
intolerable situation for a person of advanced training and highly technical knowledge. In general, "service laboratories" do not work and
cannot be expected to work!
Typical of this common administrative attitude was a grant application
to a federal agency for funds to establish an electron microscope laboratory which was reviewed by this writer. The application came from a
university, and outlined over 20 separate projects by as many different
investigators, in at least a dozen different departments, all of which
supposedly were to go on simultaneously. It was, of course, obvious that
all of the scientific departments in the school had been circularized and
urged to submit something reasonable that might bolster the application.
So far as this author knows, only one of the names on the entire list had
the slightest knowledge of electron microscopy. He shudders to think
what would have happened if this idealized program actually had been
initiated. Fortunately the granting agencies of the United States Government, which have been involved in medical and biological support
programs, seem to have been well advised about electron microscopy.
They have been quite liberal in giving away microscopes, but only when
they could be sure that they would be operated by properly trained and
qualified individuals. Their attitude has been "find the man, and we'll
give you the scope."
It is only under the most extraordinary of circumstances that a "service
laboratory" can turn out a volume of quality work. This is because the
man who operates the microscope must know what he is doing at all
levels of the investigation. Most particularly, he must be able to form
technically sophisticated opinions about what he sees on the
fluorescent
screen. In histological or cytological study, trained professional judgment
is essential in the selection of suitable fields to be photographed. The
investigator himself must spend hours that stretch out to days and months
at the microscope. This cannot be a part-time job if the problem has any
complexity at all. Successful electron microscopy is a very individualistic
discipline which inevitably represents much effort on the part of the
investigator rather than being delegated work. This is particularly true