Evening star., 1932-05-17

The splitting of the atom in ex-
perimentS in Cambridge, England, is
announced under the authority Of Sir
Ernest Rutherford, of whom the To-
peka Daily Capital says: ut could
not come from q higher authority, and
the gratifying thing about it Is that
the announcement is without reserva-
ton. Coming from Lord Rutherford
it will be accepted without question"
For some years scientists, real or
professed, have made the front page
with predictions that the discovery OF
a way to split the atom would release
sufficient energy to do all the worlo
work" recalls the Minneapolis Jour-
nal. "But now that the atom has
finally been split successfully oy
physicists at Cambridge University
England, we note no preparations by
power companies to close their gen.
Grating plants, no cessation OF work
on hydro-electric dams, no scrapplng
of steam boilers" The Journal con-
cludes that apparently, the energy re-
leaseS by breaking up atoms is not
going to do the worlds work. alter
all" 4,o
elemental proposition that energy H9St
be produced or Transformed IN oIoea !,
to become power for the use OF man;
states the Port Huron I1meS-heraiio,
Sand that the amount of power to be
produced must be very oeIlllCely a,
iiniked by the amount OF materlal
man is willing to burn up to pro-
duce it." But, though no startling re-
suits happened except the prooucI!oll
of heliurn from hydrogen in the course
of the bombardment OF the atoms ol
hydrogen gas by a stream OF protonS,
which was in itself important, Sucn
papers as the Hartford Daily Tlrnes
remind us that science today creams
Confidently of obtaining a new source
of power for practical use IN Ilqus.Iy
through tapping the energies oouIio i'I
I'D in its atoms. announcement ~
this direction has come from IeceiiS !;
discoveries, but the goal Is lar away, ~
"But this will not worry either tne
discoverer or any other scientist" az
tests the Rochester Times Union, WHICH
figures that your true scientist Is III
terested In knowing about things Just
for knowing about them" Inc Ne"
York Times calls attention TO the sig
nificance of the progress already maoe.
See what has been done IN our tliile
with the new knowledge OF electronS.
Suppose that only so years ago jules
Verne had romantically pictured a nttle
tube in which glowed fllament ana
that from the filament energy raolatea
which made it possible to carry speech
and song over continents and oceans
We have that invention in our electron
tube-the direct outcome OF what we
have thus far discovered about the atom
Suppose that Verne had pictured an
invisible light which made 1t possible 10
see through opaque flesh. That would
have seemed madder. Yet we have our
X-ray machines, and they, too, followed
in the wake of the electron. And sup
pose that In a supreme burst OF the
Imagination the untrammeled Verne
had caused q man In Paris to see an
other in New York on screen. Inc
Second Empire might have been alarmed
by the display Of such mental extrava-
gance. Yet we have our photo-electric
cells, which have made crude television
possible and which are based on ols-
coyeries Of the atom bonaharders,' con"
cludes the Times, as It sees the atom
bombardsrs overwhelmed with humility
and awe as they pentrate deeper and
deeper into the mystery OF mysteries
that lies at the atoms core"
The Scranton Times remarkS' TO
the scientific world the announcement