Evening star., 1939-09-03
500 Scientists
Gather Here
In Earth Study
Many Motions Send
Delegates to Union
Of Geodesy Session

Of Geodesy Session
About 500 leading scientists are
gathering here for the opening to-
morrow of the seventh general as
sembly of the International Union
of Geodesy and Geophysics, the va
rious branches of which will meet In
halls of George Washington Univer-
sity through September IS.
The group includes the worlds
outstanding authorities on the struc-
ture of the earth ana It's relation to
other heavenly bodies. The results
of the scientists studies during the
last three years will be pooled at
the meetings.
The subjects to be discussed in
clude weather predictions, behavior
of volcanoes, radio-wave fluctuations,
earthquakes and their causes, the
foundations of the earth, the effect
of sunspots on weather on the earth
and the behavior of the earth's elec-
trical currents as they affect mag
netic compasses.
Capt. N. H. Heck of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey,
said yesterday no .other field of SCI
ence required such close co-opera-
ton between nations.
Benefits of Co.operat ton.
For instance, he said, If numerous
foreign observatories had not pooled
their observations when an earth
quake occurred in Chile recently 1t
would not have been possible to To-
cate it quickly and to dispatch a
United States Army airplane with
emergency medical supplies to the
stricken area.
Or If ships of all nations did not
exchange weather observations at
sea and cooperate in the annual
international ice patrol to chart the
progress of icebergs, great many
more accidents would occur. Simi-
larly, he said. the progress of hurri-
canes and typhoons is forecast by the
exchange of weather observations by
radio between ships at sea and shore
stations
Most of the earth's surface is "in-
ternational territory" which belongs
to no single country and a study
Of the ocean basins and the waters
which cover them are a problem of
international cooperation in ex-
ploration.
Navies Study Ocean Floor.
At the present time the American
British and Netherlands govern
ments are cooperating in projects
to study in ocean bottom, the struc-
ture of the earth's crust underneath
the oceans, and magnetic variations
The naval vessels of all three are
cooperating in the surveys and
soon United States Coast Guard
cutter will sail from San Francisco
for the South Seas, carrying a Ma
tional Geographic Society expedi-
ton, which will carry out a year.
long study of the geography. seismol-
ogy and oceanography of the area.
DR.. John r. Fleming of the Car
negie Institution of Washington,
chairman of the Association on Mag
netic Studies. and Capt. Heck de-
clared that 1t is hoped other govern
ments will participate in similar
studies by assigning scientists to the
ships of the various fleets.
Cnrh r,rn0ro NJ u,biot, }Le "a
national union hopes to foster, would
illustrate, they said, that while poll
ticians may bring about war, ssien-
fists cooperate to promote peace.
Many Nations Represented.
Although the tense times have
limited attendance at some inter-
national scientific meetings this
summer. early indications are that
the majority of delegates assigned
will be present for the symposium
on the earth sciences. They include
representatives of England, Ger
many, Poland, Russia, the Neither
lands, Belgium, Denmark, France
Norway, Japan, Canada, Yugoslavia
Greece, the United States, Mexico
and a number of South American
countries.
Among studies they will report are
those on the subsurface mud OF
ocean bottoms which reveals changes
in the earth for a million years back
theories of predicting volcanic erup-
tions and earthquakes, weather
cycles and possible methods of long
range forecasting, method of max
ing granite rock in the laboratory
and determination of rock structures
miles below the surface of the earth
by measuring the time required for
earthquake waves to travel through
the earth's structure.