Evening star., 1938-09-03
OF STARS,
MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science PROGRESS
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.
D., runMAc ID rICNrDv
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

ana StuOy.
BY THOMAS H. HENRY.
Two events have taken place within
the lifetimes of third of the people now
| living-the World War, the discovery
wavelengths of radiation a thousand
times shorter than those of visible light.
Which was the most important? The
one caused tremendous social and eco
| nomic upheavals It cost the lives of
8,500O0O combatants alone.
The other has saved the lives of essen
TALLY an equal number.
The comparison was made by DR.. Ar
thur H. Compton, Nobel Prize winner.
in an address on the future of physics
before the American Association for the
Advancement of Science recently. He
| left little doubt that, in the far sweep
of history, the World War will be
quite inconsequential thing compared to
Roentgens discovery of X-rays
In the 20 years since the war, Dr.
Compton said, "of the 45O,OOOOOO per-
sons then living in the countries at war
some 50O00,000 will have died of cancer
The lives of some 100000 others will
have been saved from cancer by the
use of X-rays and the radium which was
discovered as result of them. If you
| add to these the considerably greater
number whose lives have been saved by
| the X-ray diagnosis of tuberculosis, a
| broken bone or an infected tooth, it be-
| comes evident that even in the warning
| countries X-rays will have saved as many
| lives as were taken in battle.
But what of the vast political and
| economic disturbances caused by the
! war? X-rays also have had their great
economic and political effects, not so
dramatic, but perhaps even more far
| reaching. What does it mean to the
| economic and political life of the United
| States to be integrated by radio? For
one thing 1t means that we are a unit of
govelnable size, with no apparent tend
| ency toward dlsntegration. 1t means
Nationwide markets for centrally con-
trolled and adVertiZed goods. Yet with
out X-ray, no radio. For the radio is the
child OF the electron and the electron
owes It's recognition to the ioniZation of
air by X-rays Similarly were it not for
X-rays we would not now have sound
movies Or long distance telephony, or
radio beacons to guide airmail. or a null
| tltude of other devices that rely on elec-
irons for their operation.
But the real significance of the dis
coVery OF X-rays is much deeper. Physics
lay Stagnant. For 20 years the idea of
ions had been making poor headway in
physics and chemistry. The announce
| ment of X-rays kindled a tinder box.
Never perhaps, has history shown such
an outburst Of scientific activity. Thou
sands OF investigators set themselves to
study the newly opened possibilities.
Within a few months came the an
nouncement that X-rays dissociate air
ana otner gasses into charged ionS and
chemistry had the impulse that was
needed to start it on its phenomenal
growth. Another few months and radio
activity was discovered, leading to ra-
alum and all its consequences. Another
year or two and electrons became known.
1he atomic theory was now on a firm
basis, but the atom itself was found to
have a structure
Not an important field of science but
was stimulated by these discoveries. The
geologist had placed in his hand a radio
active clock for measuring the ages of
his rocks. The biologist was given
method for producing artificial muta-
tlons. changing species at his will. The
psychologist received new electrical in
struments for measuring nerve currents.
The scientific world was set aflame.
one may say that the present scientific
era was ushered in by x-rays."
Thus the German Kaiser. with all his
pomp and wealth and power, and one of
his humblest subjects relatively influ-
enced the history of mankind in the first
quarter Of the 18th century. The rela-
tlonship hardly can be considered one of
unlty-the one which led to advances in
human progress and happiness SO far
outbalancing the one which led to hu-
man dlslntegration and misery.
Or. Compton might have selected
other events for comparison with the
World WARRIOR instance, the discovery
OF electromagnetic induction by the Eng
llshman, Faraday. If he had taken this
example. he said, the balance would he
so heavily weighed on one side that
there really would have been no COM
parison at ALL
Man is very close to the end of one
chapter in his progress, that of map-
ping the boundaries of the universe in
which he lives both in space and time
With his telescopes the astronomer has
already found island universes millions
OF nght years distant He never will be
able to see much farther. regardless of
now much better telescopes may be con-
structed in the future. because of a
chang in the energy of light from such
far spaces.
Similarly. DR.. Compton stressed. he
hardly can be expected to look much
farther into the infinitely little. how
ever great the improvements in micro
scopes. The measurement of the mo-
tlons of objects becomes less precise the
smaller they get. This means that when
man gets much farther in this direction
ne will be looking at meaningless chaos
which may be considered the ultimate
boundary so far as human knowledge
ever can penetrate
Also, he pointed out, limit is not far
distant in the size of artificial structures.
When objects are Of the order of a thou
sand feet, he pointed out, gravitational
forces become of such importance as
compared with cohesive forces that fur
ther increase in size becomes rapidly
more difficult.
Similarly" he said, Eve already are
working with things so small that their
molecular motions are appreciable.
Molecular bombardment now is a limit
ing factor in the precision of electrom-
eCers and galVanometers, SO that further
decrease in size is of little value"