In 1940 as WW II was breaking out universities like Harvard
and MIT came to the fore to assist in the war effort. Students enlisted in such
things as the NROTC and Harvard's alone sent many men to the ensuing conflict.
MIT established the Rad Lab in wooden shacks built on the campus, where my own
office was in the late 1960s, and MIT recruited some of the best minds to
address the issue of radar and building systems to protect the ships that many
of the Harvard men sailed in.
Men like Conant, Killian, Vannevar Bush, Oppenheimer, and
many others were assembled to lead, manage, direct in a timely and effective
manner all of the tasks necessary to win the conflict. For the most part these
men volunteered their services to the good and survival of the country, setting
aside any political considerations and recognizing that democracy and the
American way of life was all too important.
Radar and its related systems were built and the assembled
by a team of individuals chronicled in the classic Rad Lab series of books, whose
use remains even today, some seventy-five years later.
Now in stark contrast one wonders what has befallen the
people in the very same positions today. For both Harvard and MIT were first in
line getting what was perceived as their cut of the funds meant for small
business survival. One does not see a Conant type in Washington working to help
the nation survive, nor is there a Vannevar Bush type leading the charge on the
massively complex issue of producing RNA tests and antibody tests.
MIT it seems under the current leadership in my opinion
recklessly fails to remember that it was one of the Land Grant Colleges,
dedicated to bettering the life of those in the United States. Survival is a
fundamental prerequisite for such betterment, and we see that these two
institutions seem more interested in getting their cut of the feed bag and not
taking a lead in helping our country survive.
It is not because of any lack of competence. MIT and Harvard
contain wealth of competence and individuals who could be thrown into the fray.
Whereas the Med School folks are the soldiers at the front lines, the Rad Lab
teams are sorely lacking. Leadership is missing. No one is stepping up to the
bar and taking leadership.
Government is also at fault. But after a long period of
outright hostility between the Academy and Government, perhaps the Academy
should lay down their stones and do what is right. Unfortunately, it does not seem
that we have a Harry Hopkins in the current White House, there is no one to
usher in the Academy types to get them to pull together as they had some eighty
years ago. Yet the Academy type seem even utterly clueless as to their past,
clueless as regards to the true mission they must fulfill.
When we look at the lack of reagents for RNA testing, why do
we not have the minds in Chemical Engineering step forth and provide a
solution. Just think how many such solutions came in WW II! They came forth in
thousands, tens of thousands, and the answers flowed with every increasing
rapidity.
In contrast one need just look at the web site for MIT news
and the focus is on Earth Day, smart clothing, and arms control. Whatever virus
effort is uncoordinated and peripheral at the very best. There is no focus on
addressing the immediate needs. Those needs are eminently clear. They are;
testing, logistics, and core elements and processes required.
At MIT I fear we have no Vannevar Bush, instead we seem to
have Business Professors who claim that Americans are "stupid". Trust
then is lost, and trust is then so difficult to be regained.
One longs for the days of the Rad Lab. Leadership from that
time made the country explode with success in the 1950s. Lack of any
leadership, other than getting to the front of the "free money" line
is not a good sign. MIT has the people, the minds, the capability, but it is
disconnected, and in my opinion, poorly led. We need a Vannevar Bush to go to
Washington with a Conant, to demonstrate that the Academy is a truly productive
element of our society, not a voice always critical while at the same time
feeding itself off the sweat of the land.
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