The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-23
WEATHER STUDY
TO Be MADE ON
MOUNTAIN PEAK
Scientist Who Evolved
Theory of Cycle to
View Sun Spots.
-Dietz on Science
BY DAVID DIETZ
scriDps- Science Editor

seriDps-HoVard Science Editor
CAMBRIDGE, Nov 25-At the
same time that DR.. Charles G. Alb
bot. secretary of the Smithsonian
institution, was telling the National
Academy of Science in session here,
Of his discovery that weather went
in tWenty-three-year cycles, another
member Of the Smithsonian staff
was making himself at home upon
the mountain top where, according
to many biblical scholars, Moses
climbed to receive the Ten Com
mandments.
There is a real connection between
the two events, for DR.. Abbot's thir-
ty-year study of weather has de-
pended upon data collected by lone
" watchers upon distant mountain
tops.
Harlan H. ZOdtner is the Ameri-
can astronomer who has just settled
down with his wife and children in
a stone house upon the peak of Mt
st. katherine upon the Mt. Sinai
peninsula. It is this mountain
rather than the nearby Mt. Sinai
which many think is meant in the
biblical account
Aided by Monks
Mr.. Zodtner's nearest neighbors
are the monks of the Mt. Sinai
monastery, one of the oldest Chris
tan organizations in the world. The
monastery stands upon the slopes of
the mountain It was the monks
who built both the observatory and
the house for Mr.. Zodtner, as well
as a road to it.
Thirty years ago, Dr. Abbot be-
came convinced that the suns
radiation of heat was not constant
but variable. He became convinced
that these variations were RESPONSE
bic for terrestrial weather.
BY 1910 he had perfected an in
strument for the measurement of
the rate at which the sun radiated
energy. This instrument is known
as the silver-disc pyrheliometer
More than seventy ObservatOries in
all parts of the world are now
equipped with standardized copies of
this instrument provided by the
Smithsonian Institution.
Under DR.. Abbots supervision,
mountain top obServatories were es-
tabIshed to make daily measure
ments of the suns heat. These are
located at Table Mountain, Cal, and
Mt Montezuma, Chile.
Goes Mountain Hunting
Alfred F. Moore of the Smith
sonian staff was sent to find third
site.
First he climbed Mt. Togo, a vol
canic peak in the Cape Verde Is
lands Next he climbed five peaks
in South Africa, but none of them
proved satisfactory
Finally he located Mt st. Kath-
crime. 1t is believed to be the dryest
accessible spot in the eastern
hemisphere. There is also a mini
mum of dust. Consequently, it is
hoped that extremely accurate
measurements will be obtained.
Studies Sun Spots
DR.. Abbot, working for many
years to cOrrelate the earth's
weather with the sun, has been in
toreSted in the solar output of en-
ergy more than in the sun spots. It
is interesting therefore to note that
the latest development in his work
is to find a relationship between
weather and sun spots.
Analysing his data with a COM
pick calculating machine of his own
invention. the periodometer, he finds
the weather repeating itself every
twenty-three years. This is twice
the sun spot cycle of eleven and
half years or the magnetic cycle
discovered by DR.. George Enery.
DR. Abbots work is bound to in
crease the interest in sun spots.
These are studied now by many OBJ
Servatories in all parts of the United
States.
Daily photographs of the sun spots
are made at the Mt. Wilson observa-
tory and many other obServatories
in Europe, India and Africa. To
date. however, they have been
chiefly of interest to the aStron-
omer. 1t may be that the day is
coming when the weather man will
have to add telescope to his fore
casting equipment.