The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-05-06
: Dietz on Science
- Dietz on Science
MYSTERY Wells
MOST OF SPACE
FOR SCIENTISTS
Despite Recent Advances,
Universe Still Is
Closed Book.
BY DAVID DIETZ
Scripps-HOward Science Editor

New discoveries in science disclose
mysteries as well as facts. Scientists
today know more about the universe
than ever before Yet at no time
in the history of civilization were
scientists so conscious of the small
ness of their knowledge.
That is the impression I get after
two weeks in the east attending the
annual meetings of the American
Philosophical Society, National
Academy of Sciences, American
Geophysical Union, American Seis-
biological Society and the American
Physical Society.
DR.. V. M. Slipher, director of the
Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff,
Ariz., told how eighteen years of
study of the night sky had culmin-
ated in establishing the fact that
there was faint illumination in
the open night sky that did not
come from the stars or any known
source of light.
This illumination, he explained,
consisted of definite wave-lengths
or bands of light scattered from the
infra-red, through the colors of the
rainbow, to the ultraviolet. The
various wave-lengths f1uctuated in
intensity independently of each
other.
Describes Cosmic Ray
DR.. Robert A MiIikan, famous
physicist of California Institute OF
Technology, told the scientists that
he was convinced that the energy
of coSmic rays in our own galaxy
was about equal to the total energy
of all the starts in it. He said he
was convinced that the energy OF
coSmic rays was about the same
throughout the universe.
Since the universe consists OF
much more empty space than stars
this would mean that by far the
greater part of the energy of the
universe consisted of cosmic rays.
DR.. Arthur H. Compton, bril-
liant young physicist of the Uni
versity of Chicago, described expert
IIlGIlIS WlllC1l COIlN111CC 11llIl OI1dU al
least 10 per cent of the cosmic rays
are particles with positive electric
charges.
Moving Toward Galaxy
He said that they might consist
of the newly discovered positive cleo
irons or POSITIONS, or that they
might prove to be the nuclei of n.y.
drogen or helium atoms.
DR.. Dayton c. Miller Of Cleveland,
former president of the American
Physical Society, told how he was
convinced from his ether-drift ex-
periments that our galaxy was NOV
ing through space with a velocity
of 100 miles per second in the di-
rection of a constellation in the
southern hemisphere, not far from
the south celestial pole. The con-
stellation is known as Dorado, or
the Sword fish"
Earth Is Bombarded
Perhaps the situation can be
summed up in words of DR.. w. j.
Humphreys, physicist of the United
States weather bureau, and chair
man of the American Geophysical
Union.
Our earth is in the midst of
gravity fields, electrical fields and
magnetic fields" he said.
1T is bombarded by electrons and
alpha particles shot out of the sun
and perhaps the stars. Cosmic rays
and perhaps many other unknown
forces rain down upon it,"
The big job ahead of science is
to solve the mystery of the role
these many forces play in the uni
verse and upon the earth. That is
why scientists are certain that their
present-day knowledge represents
only fraction of what is yet to be
learned.