The Half-Century: STEEP CURVE TO LEVEL FOUR

The 20th Century has a characteristic unique in history — the headlong, accelerating growth of scientific knowledge. The curve of knowledge is exponential, growing steeper like the curve of squares (1—4—9—16—25—36—49 . . .). It has changed men's lives more in the past 20 years than in the previous 50; more in that 50 years than in the previous 200. Man cannot, dare not stop its growth, though he does not know where it is taking him.

The most startling discoveries came in the last 50 years, and they were made when many scientists...