and even power on their authors. but if i were to name a single thing which points up the difference this century has made in the american attitude towards see if yens it would certainly be the wholehearted understanding today of the importance of pure science. we realize now that progress in technology depends on progress in theory that the most abstract investigations can lead to the most concrete results. and that the vitality of a scientific community springs from its passion to answer science's most fundamental questions. in a recent speech to the general assembly of the united nations, i proposed a program to protect land, water, forest, wildlife, combat exhaustion, erosion, to stop the contamination of water and air, industrial as well as nuclear pollution, and to provide for