Evening star., 1923-11-28
In TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

two inches. DIR. Millkan himself II
| 1920 added to "invisible vision" three
, times as wide a range as eyes car
see.
| But in the opposite direction OF
/ vision, without optical visibility
science has gone still further. Start.
| ing with the eighth of an inch, indi-
! eating our optic range. the late
Prof. Langley of the Smithonian In
stitution IN 1881 extended our power
| to use "infra-red' rays. the equiva-
| lent of three -eighths OF an inch on this
scale. Rubens and others extended the
spread OF infra-red rays to a whole
| inch of the scale. and from 1895 tc
| the present day "wireless waves
have added three inches more to the
! scale of our "scientinc vision"
/ Only a physicist could explain by
| what method OF application of this
| likan and others now look at the
] atomic "solar systems" weigh their
| planets and measure the sneed there
| Of about their orbits. We OF the
| masses have "eyes TO see. but see
| not"
How glorius it would be to "lister
| in TO the music of the spheres! The
| future holds even that privilege for
mankind
| Eyesight cannot respond at all to
less than 1850 waves per mill'meter
nor to more than $500, while the
| acute ear can hear, when the waves
| range from 16 TO 1so o0o per millimeter
! and science can produce waves as
| law as 3 per millimeter.
J MoseIy. bv electrically SHOOTING
| elactrons with extremely high SDeed
| through n vacuum tube. has caused
! them to penetrate different kinds oi
! matter. Electrons will pierce solid
! steel sixteen inches thick. passine
| through its open atoms as II they
were the roarseSt mesh. And as these
| fvinE electrons have struck target
| each electron has sounded It's own
particular note of music. clearly audi
BILE DR. Millikan characteriZeS the
Moselv discovery the greatest OF TINS
| age. I'VE have learned to hear the
notes which the deniZens Of the sub
atomic world. the electrons. send out
uIated to emit their characteristic
pitches" says DR.. Millikan.
X X
II a mighty meteor as great as
our moon were to plunge through
space and enter our solar system its
l
All orbits. The earth might he so
thrown out Of its course that 1t
would be tens of millions of miles
farther from the sun and it's year
would be as long as several of our
present years. Forever 1t would re-
, volve in its new orbit Not so with
the orbit of an electron. 1t is
eternally the same. so long as the
electron remains in the same atom.
Why? Science has Vet TO discover
more of the wonders of creation.
OF what practical use is all this
knowledge?
At the bureau OF standards the
, answer is given that this knowledge
| opens vast realm OF certainty. hith-
erto entered only by empirical ex-
periments. Instead OF blind expert
mentation by trial and rejection,
there is now exact knowledge within
reach as to the character of metals
land other substances. making 1t
clear why some will combine and
others will not. Also. how one metal
may be transmitted into another.
Scientists are actually accomplishing
Radium changes into helium and
finally into lead. How soon will
science reverse the process and make
radium out of lead. gold out of baser
metals?
The multiplied applications OF the
knowledge cannot be named, but
greatest of all its present fields is
that of wireless telephony and the
radio. GueSswork is past: exact
science enters. The future is big
with its miracles
Copyright 1928 by Paul V ColIins)