Show physicists measure world progress science of physics will have MO more rc influence than election they say meet in new york to discuss future in industry r R W MN VV A all 60 4 W rk ra U M CU 01 0 hj 4 0 L by WILLIAM C UTLEY ITH the storm clouds of WITH wany war ready to break almost any time over europe millions of americans are worrying about impending conflict and how we shall shah stay out of it in the election just over more than 40 millions traveled to the polls in all kinds of weather after having talked of almost nothing but politics for months the dionne quin and the stork derby in canada have been front page news for goodness knows how long yet the general public has given little thought to a force that may have been more important than any of these things the science of physics its influence has far exceeded that of wars political alignments or social theories says dr karl T compton president of the massachusetts institute of technology and one of the guiding spirits of the american institute of physics which met in new york city recently in the last fifty years physics has exerted a more powerful beneficial influence on the intellectual economic and social life of the world than has been exerted in a comparable time by any other agency in history bays says dr compton the real revolutionist of modern civilization is a physicist he is largely responsible for the airplane engines telephones talking movies and a thousand other advancements that have changed our lives so much in the last few decades physicist aids medicine physics deals with energy heat motion electricity light sound the bases for most industries and for everyday living it is the physicist who changes light into electricity with the photoelectric cell the physicist who eliminates noise in broadcasting stations and vibration from buildings and engines the physicist who measures the force of an earthquake or the severity of the weather the physicist who sounds the sea with echoes and makes it possible to probe the universe for some new and distant star the physicist provides the facts upon which engineers build lofty towers his measurements make possible the application of medicine to heart beats brain waves and the structure of life itself dr compton declared that the crying need was for funds with which the physicist may carry on his work suggesting federal ede r al appropriations in national just as in industrial expenditures some substantial portion should bs be devoted to the attempt to improve the products prod acts processes and methods of the future huge expenditures for construction st and production only with no provision for research h and development aimed at better construction and new production in the future are woefully shortsighted short sighted he be said treatment of cancer some of the most promising future developments of physics should be of interest to everyone for they are in the field of medicine says dr compton the treatment of cancer still leaves much to b be e desired but physics made possible possie I 1 e its i ts treatment by radiotherapy neutrons now offer interesting possibilities for the future just now showing its real value Ji yf iSS f 1 10 physics exerts a more ore powerful influence J than an baji ar dr karl T Comp omelon tont e is another use of physics in medicine the employment of high fre quency radiation to create artificial fever fe ve r lately it has been found possible to cure dogs from rabies by raising their temperatures to a point which will not kill the dogs but will kill the organisms of the disease recent developments in the science of physics are as varied as they are fascinating for instance dr G failla of new york city reports a new method of studying the ionization of neutrons upon human tissues in the treatment of cancer he has designed a chamber the inner walls of which may be lined with the ekin bone muscle or tumor which is being studied even the contour of the living test object can be simulated late discoveries in the research of atomic nuclei may equal the strides made possible by the discoveries co of the xray X ray radiotherapy and the electron in the recent past in the opinion of dr compton during the past third of a century he ha said the discoveries of the xray X ray and radioactivity have together brought about the greatest I 1 advances which have ever been made in the fundamental knowledge of the physical world and in application of this knowledge to human welfare these developments will undoubtedly continue it may be well that the new fields of knowledge disclosed d i s c I 1 0 s e d through exploration of the atomic nucleus may bring about a new ne w set of developments of corresponding correspond in 9 importance before this century comes to a close hear magnets hiss one of the most dramatic presentations of the atomic nuclei was made in new york by dr R M bozorth he ha allowed the assembled scientists to hear tiny magnets inside metal turn over and hiss and then magnified that hiss to a magnificent ent roar in the last ten years he told them research has increased by eight times the ease with which iron responds to magnetization dr Boz Doz tiny internal magnets are caused by the co operation cooperation of blocks of million billion atoms which could form a cube about a thousandth of an inch on a side each atom within the unit which physicians call an atomic domain is magnetic because its electrons revolve about the atom nucleus but the domain consists of atoms so rotating that their magnetic poles are all in the same direction if an opposing magnetic force is brought into the neighborhood of these inner magnets they will turn over as a unit and emit a click in an electrical circuit hundreds of these clicks each second turn into the continuous hiss known as the barkhausen effect that is what tile the audience heard perhaps all this sounds merely like a good parlor trick yet it is of tremendous importance to everyone and that means mean s thousands engaged in business b business i every day who I 1 uses the long distance telephone bone because P very weak signals can be utilized and amplified by i clays belays the grizzled soldier left and his millions of counterparts have less influence on the world than the young physicists right trying to split the atom says dr karl T compton center to carry on the message to greater distance reprimand from youth but the scientists pondering the nuclei of atoms were destined t to have a bombshell thrown 1 nto into their midst by john ely burchard youthful scientist and vice president of an industrial concern specializing in prefabricated dwellings he threw at them the words of grosvenor atterbury dean of the workers in his field what really interests us most vitally today Is it the discovery that my umbrella it if projected through space at sufficient velocity will actual actuality Uy become shorter until if ernsteins Ein steins theory is what it is cracked up to be it will disappear altogether scarcely I 1 can lose umbrellas fast enough as it is now we are spending millions to build inch telescopes to scan the universe and determine whether it is getting measurably smaller or incalculably greater all of which in the present state of the realm seems brilliantly useless especially when you consider the millions who cannot afford decent homes because none of our great minds has ever been focused on the basic everyday problem of human shelter science needs an intelligent board of directors with a small amount of such as are now focused on the speed with which the neutron penetrates the nucleus of the atom ato M and only 2 or 3 per cent of the money now devoted to research into the living conditions at the dawn of history the cost of the poor mans housing today could be cut in half another of the outstanding contributions of the science of physics to industrial progress lies in the quelling of vibration dr J P den hartog associate professor of applied mechanics at harvard university told the meeting in new york dr den bartog cited the improvements in the elimination of vibration from flying machines since the scare in 1929 when vibration destroyed the shafts of four of the five engines of the graf zeppelin during a gale over france A device has now been made which gives th the e motor shafts counter vibrator vibratory rs s whose shocks balance the ones normally supplied by the motor vibrations are problem the new high speed locomotives of the railroads also developed their vibration problems he pointed out they got the habit of nosing or swaying violently from side t to side as they swept down the tracks the physicists solved this one with the aid of the toy manufacturers in working out the problem a six inch long electric locomotive specially made by one of the makers of toy trains was used the springs and weight were redistributed distributed re until the vibration problem lern was solved the singing of telephone and power cables in the wind was another puzzle of vibration eventually solved when telephone wires broke under the strain it was only as serious as the maintenance necessary to repair them but let electric power cables break and many persons mi might suddenly be exposed to the danger of electrocution western union |