Forty-two social and behavioral scientists at Harvard have received a total of $434,728 from the Defense Department under the auspices of the Cambridge Project.

The five-year Project, which is seeking to develop a common language for computers, was the center of much controversy at Harvard last semester, largely because of its Defense Department sponsorship. As a result, only M. I. T. has institutional ties to the Project.

Harvard people are involved in 25 different projects, ranging from an analysis of decision-making under risk to a study of the class composition of American Presidential votes between 1928 and 1940. Cambridge Project participants from Harvard and M. I. T. have tie-lines with M. I. T.-based computers.

Project participants will meet weekly in open session to work on developing the common computer language which is the Project's goal. The first meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight in M. I. T.'s Sloan Building.

The Defense Department allotted the Cambridge Project $1.3 million for 1969-70 and is considering an application for $1.8 million for 1970-71. Most of the money goes for salaries and computer time.

The DOD is interpreting broadly Section 203 of this year's Military Procurement Bill, which prohibits the funding of any research not having "a direct and apparent relationship to a specific military function."

It has justified funding the Cambridge Project by telling Congress that the Project is potentially related to the military function of personnel management. Congressional debate on such interpretations is likely this summer and may affect the Project's funding for 1971-72.