Show Visible Stars Now Total Trillion Latest Discoveries Are Made Public c Mechanical Brain Does Einstein Work i By HOWARD VARD W. W V. V BLAKESLEE Associated Press Tress Science Editor ANN ARBOR Mich Mch Nov 15 15 Three hundred trillion stars stars more more l than enough to give a separate sun to every human being who ever lived lived lived- lie within reach a ol of present telescope sights So the National Academy of Sciences Set Set- was in informed ormed today by a symposium symposium sym sym- of world famous scientists who summarized the latest cries eries of or astronomy Coupled with this picture of an amazingly vast amazingly vast universe was the announcement an an- of a discovery in inthe the opposite opposite op op- op direction down in the almost infinitely small a pendulum so delicate delicate deli deli- cate that it swings It-swings at the impact of ot's ofa a afew few rew molecules of gas A mechanical brain brain- which lates some Einstein relativity formulas that once only a dozen men in the world were supposed to under under- sand was also described at today's opening session The picture of the almost almost able vast size of creation was started by y Dr Harlow Shapley director of the he Harvard astronomical tory ory He said one inch 24 Harvard telescope tele tele- scope cope has revealed in southern skies alone ilone galaxies of stars A single single sin sin- gle galaxy galax is a host of stars as vast vastas vastas' vastas as as' as the milky way to which earth be be- longs These have been found In only a comparatively small portion of the he sky Dr Shapley predicted that when Harvard finishes its present plans to map the whole sky there will vill be of these MAY l BE E BILLION In one galaxy alone there may be one billion st stars rs according to Dr Joel Stebbins University of Wis Wiscon- Wiscon on sin in astronomer That is the actual number estimated for the milky way the he only galaxy close enough for much muchtar star tar counting But Dr Stebbins showed how reent re re- cent ent observations with the worlds world's greatest telescope at Mt 1 Wilson Cal indicate that this milky way which a short time ago was considered the most massive star collection in creation creation cre cre- atlon is commonplace The great inch telescope aided by y a tiny photoelectric eye eve not much more than in i inch ch big has hIlS detected an immense veil of dust dividing the vast milky way into two halves The thickness of this veil en is unknown but mt it is sufficient to redden the color of or stars lying beyond it much as the theun sun un reddens at evening The great star clusters lying b beyond beyond be be- yond this veil en he said are four times closer to earth arth than formerly com corn The big telescope and little photoelectric eye also reveal that a mistake has been made in c computing distances to stars lying on the same si side e of the dust veil as the earth Those distances must be cut 10 10 per cent JUST ANOTHER GALAXY The sum total is to reduce the proud milky way from the biggest thing in creation to just another ugal galaxy of stars The pendulum that ticks at the acton action ac ac- ac tion ton of molecules was reported by Dr Karl T. T Compton president of Massachusetts Institute of ogy It appears to be a discovery of fundamental importance in calculating ing ng the actions of electrified gases something that may ultimately become become be be- come of widespread practical value in n engineering and chemistry The pendulum is made of the metal molybdenum and hangs in a tube of highly electrified or ionized gas Streams of ionized gas molecules which have become electric electrically Uy charged by losing an electron are shot against this pendulum Some of the Ions rebound from the pendulum others stick sUck fast The mechanism of this rebound of ions is pictured said Dr Compton as simply the collision of or the gas ion with an atom of the metal surface surface- like ike the elastic collision of a projectile tile ile ball with a target ball bait The rebound rebound re reo bound is greatest for helium which is very light and successively less less' for neon and argon ions striking a molybdenum denum electrode and there is no rebound rewound re re- re bound wound at all when mercury ions which are arc very heavy strike denum The relativity accomplishment of the he mechanical brain was reported by Dr Vannevar Bush dean of engineering engi at Massachusetts Institute of Technology y This brain is the most recently developed of a a series of mechanical mechanical me me- calculating machines It calculates things like the laws of flow of a river doing in a few minutes or hours bours what a mathematician does in days or weeks It has worked said Dr Bush the Thomas Thomas-Fermie equation and the same ame equation after introducing the relativity correction It has worked wave equations of physics and problems showing the makeup of nuclei of atoms |