National Science Foundation Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to submit to the Congress the 27th Annual Report of the National Science Foundation, covering Fiscal Year 1977.

This is an important document. Many of the issues facing our Nation today, in areas such as energy, the economy, and the environment, require special knowledge and detailed information. Advances in the sciences, many of which are discussed in this report, enhance our understanding of ourselves and the world about us, and thus assist us in seeking wise and intelligent solutions to these complex problems.

Federally supported scientific progress has flourished now for several decades. This pursuit of scientific knowledge—at colleges and universities, national research centers, and other research organizations-depends heavily on judiciously allotted Federal funds, as does the education of many talented young students who might not otherwise attain the careers in science for which they are qualified.

This report describes in brief many of the National Science Foundation's activities in the past year, in support of basic and applied research, as well as education and training in science and engineering. There is a significant emphasis upon basic research, the principle mission of the NSF. In recent years, the American people have learned that even with the help of the most advanced technology, some of our most pressing national problems can be tackled only by diligent, long-term attention. The needed basic research supported by the National Science Foundation continually enlarges our capacity to deal with many of these major national and international issues.

I believe the activities of the National Science Foundation reviewed in this Annual Report represent funds well spent in the public interest. I, therefore, commend this report to your close attention, confident that many of you will share my interest in the extraordinary range of scientific pursuits that it describes.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

August 4, 1978.