Evening star., 1939-07-01
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henrv.

mers, meeting in Paris this summer, will
attempt to Clarity in the light of the
latest scientific findings, the life history
of star such as the sun and attempt
to determine through what stages 1t
goes in its progress from a nebulous
whirling mass of gas to a dark, dense
sphere floating aimlessly in space.
Specifically the congress will treat OF
white dwarfs and novae, stars which are
in the latter stages of stellar evolution
1t is hoped also to throw light upon the
process involved in the great explosions
which make faint stars suddenly shine
brightly as new stars" and even, some-
times, whole galaxies of stars compare
BILE to the 10000 900, ,0OO-star Milky Way
galaxy itself. These are the great super
novae, whose behavior still remains a
complete puzzle to astronomers.
The Singer Polignac Congress of As
trophysics will be held from July II to
July 23.. 1t is sponsored and financed
by the Princess Singer -Polignac, Ameri-
can wife of the late Prince Polignac
The princess was heiress to the Singer
fortune and the Foundation Singer
Polignac was founded in memory of her
husband, who had been conducting re-
search in astronomy before his death.
Thirteen eminent astrophysicists and
cosmologiStS from all over the world have
been invited to participate in the con-
gress. OF these, seven are American.
Prof. Henry Norris Russell of Princeton,
the dean of American astrophysicists
will preside. With him will 60 DR.. Sergei
Gaposchkin of Harvard and his wife, DR..
Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin, also of Har-
ward; DR.. c. S. Beals of the Dominion
Astrophysical Observatory of Victoria
and DR.. Gerard P. Kuiper and DR.. S.
ChandraSekhar of the Yerkes Observa-
tory. Among the European scientists
who will present papers at the congress
are Sir Arthur Eddington, who will talk
on the theory Of white dwarfs, and the
Chanoine Lemaitre, famous Belgian cos
mologist, who recently visited the United
States. The Chanoine Lemaitre will talk
upon the subject of novae, supernovae
and cosmic rays.
The Importance of the conference will
lie in the attempt which will be made 20
clarity the life history of star 1t is
believed at present that an ordinary
star, such as the sun, eventually reaches
the point where it no longer can give
forth its quota of heat and light, and at
which its internal equilibrium is suffi-
GENTLY disturbed so that some change
must occur. This change may take the
form of a sudden eXplosion-and such
violent explosions of stars and even
entire galactic systems have not infre-
quently been observed by astronomers
the star becomes what is called novae,
or new star. After the star has
suffered an explosion of this sort. and
1t mas settled down TO a new equilibrium
its internal structure is radically differ
ent. 1t is thought that white dwarfs-
1alnt stars OF type characterized by
densltles so great that, volume for VOL
ume, they are millions of times heavier
than lead-are the end products of the
cataclysms observed as novae.
At the International Congress of Astro-
physics this summer the foremost astro-
physicists of the world will attempt to
solve this riddle of the universe and to
PROFOUND coherent and comprehensive
theory OF the evolution of star from it's
initial gaseous stage to that advanced
ana degenerate stage when it becomes
known as white dwarf.
For the most part, the week of the
congress VIII be spent in discussion of the
papers which are to be read Each of
the scientists will be given ample oppor-
tunlty to analyze and criticize the theo-
ries and findings of his colleagues, and
1t is hoped that from it all, a distinctive
step will have been taken in our under
standing of the evolutionary processes of
the stellar universe.
The strange actions of helium-only
liquid which exhibits in its LIQUID state
characteristics otherwise found only in
the inside of the atom-were pictured by
DR.. Edward Teller, George Washington
University physicist, before the sympo-
SUM on liquids and polyatomic molecules
at the University of Chicago this week.
Among the odd characteristics of
helium," said Prof. Teller, lis the diff
Guilty with which it can be liquifed, only
at degrees above absolute zero At
normal pressures it does not solidify.
however strongly cooled. The reason for
this seems to be that the 'quantum ef-
fects' usually met only in the interior
of atoms, and which keep the atom in
disorderly geometric confguration. In
-ther liquids this disorder is caused by
temperature and disappears in general
when the temperature is low enough.
"At extremely low temperatures
helium also exhibits a number of other
striking properties. 1t has a very high
heat conductivity and a very low vis-
costly This property probably will be-
come of great Importance in the tech
nique of producing low temperatures and
may eventually become of technical i'm
portance."