Smyrna times., 1935-01-17
SIDE LIGHTS OF
NEW YORK CITY
Told By L. L. Stevenson in
His Own Immical Way
of DOings in City
INTERESTING SKETCHES

DR.. Harold c. Urey, who was
awarded the Nobel chemistry prize
for 1884. sometimes lives up to the
Fontaine Fox title, ''The Absent
Minded Professor" One morning up
at Columbia, where he is a profess
sor, he entered a classroom and
gave his lecture. After some time
had elapsed, he discovered that the
faces before him were all unfamil-
lar. He had merely wandered into
the wrong room. On another oc-
casion, he started out wearing shoes
that were not mates. His award
came to him for his discoveries In
regard to heavy water. The hydro
gen content of heavy water, known
as deuterium, weighs twice as much
as the hydrogen element in ordinary
water. 1t used to cost $4,000
pound. Now the cost is only from
SS to $50 a pound. Few laymen
know what heavy water is. No lay
man knows what to do with it as
yet. 1t is regarded as extremely
valuable to science, however. Sci
entists hope to learn atomic Sc
crets through it-witness the dance
of the molecules" or something.
Doctor Urey is forty-one years
old. He received his degree of bach
elor of science from the University
of Montana and his Phi. D. in chem
istry from the University of Cali
fornia. He came to Columbia as an
associated professor five years ago.
In addition to the Nobel prize. he
was awarded the Willard Gibbs
medal by the Chicago section of the
American Chemical society. That
too was for his work with heavy
water. But his spare time reading
is detective stories and S. S. Van
Dine is his fayOrite author. He
also likes to fool around the gar
den and play the piano. His wife
will spend his prize money.
Another recent prize winner was
Louis Paul who lives in Kew gar
dens. He received the o. Henry
memorial award of $500 for the
outstanding short story of the year.
1t was his first to get into print
After writing it, he laid it aside for
six months. Then. one day, seeing a
newspaper advertisement of a high
priced magazine. he concluded the
editor would want that yarn. The
editor did. He not only accepted it
ter telling the author how good it
was. While the story that was to
be q prize winner-the title is mo
More Trouble for Jedwick," and it
slayer from chain gang-was
gathering dust. Paul was at work
on novel. He finally turned out
two. Both have been accepted by a
publisher and the first will be out
in the spring.
The winner of the o. Henry award |
looks much like a somewhat dated |
football player. He is thirty-two |
years old. He weighs 215 pounds |
and his muscles are well developed. |
They should be. When he was six !
teen. he quit school and Joined the |
army. In that way, he saw the |
country, having been shifted from |
camp to camp until his total |
reached seven. After the Armistice, |
he served as an orderly in Walter |
Reed hospital in Washington. Tir-
ing of that after time, he quit |
and went West. On the Pacific coast, |
he was movie extra. Also a stew
edore. Also he held down various
jobs on railroads. In addition, he |
had other jobs In all of which toll
was spelled with capital letters.
Then he came East. For the last |
three years he has been doing moth
ing save write-''without making a
nickel" But he's on his way now.
Leaving prize winners and turn
ing to-a Fifth avenue hat shop.
Hat shops are common on the av-
enue. But this one Is different. In