Evening star., 1941-05-25
Dr.. HuIburt, Navy Scientist,
Commutes to Work by Boat
AIexundriuns Cross
Potomac Daily to
u. S. Laboratory
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

DR.. E. 0. Hulburt, superintendent
of the physical optics division of
the Naval Research Laboratory in
Congress Heights, is one of a group
of 40 Alexandrians who daily go to
this Navy bureau by boat across
the Potomac River, rather than by
auto on roundabout land route.
This nautical contingent from
Alexandria, a port before the City
of Washington had come into ex-
lStence, is typically American
cross-section of democracy en- route
to work. They leave the foot of
Cameron street every weekday morn
ing at 7:35 o'clock and the return
trip is made shortly after 5 pm.
The passenger list includes naval
officers, scientists, laboratory and
shop assistants and one of the lab
oratory's colored janitors. Two of
the passengers are women. One is
the telephone operator and the other
an assistant librarian.
1t was DR.. Hulburt who first
aroused interest in this maritime
committing. He and his nautically-
minded wife decided they must be
close enough to the tideWater to be
on a navigation chart. They chose
as their home an old Colonial house
at 509 South Lee street, Alexandria,
directly overlooking the Potomac.
Then DR.. Hulburt's S problem was how
to reach his Office at the Naval Re-
search Laboratory, just below Boiling
Field on the opposite side of the
river. While he was still looking
about Alexandria, WharVes for a
small craft he might use, the pres
ent joint transportation scheme for
all of the laboratory's employees liv-
ing In Alexandria was worked out.
Lauds Scenic Beauty.
The short run, DR.. Hulburt de-
clares, rs one of the most beautiful
in the world. particularly in the
wintertime, when our departure is
practically at sunrise. From the
water on clear mornings We glimpse
the whole curve of the City of Wash
lngton with its park surroundings
and its magnificent Government
buildings, dominated by the shaft
OF the Monument. In the far dis
tance We sight the Cathedral above
the city itself and Arlington above
the Virginia shore"
The Naval Research Laboratory
Is an outgrowth of the last World
War. 1t owes its existence to
President Wilson's appointment of a
Naval Consulting Board which or
ganlzed 1t to improve through its
immediate and long range inventi-
cations, the American Navy in peace
and war. While it has the status of
a separate Navy Bureau directly
under the jurisdiction of the Secre-
tary OF the Navy, its personnel, with
the exception of its director and
assistant director. who are naval Of
ficers, Is an entirely civilian one,
chosen for outstanding attainment
in scientific research.
No other government in the world
has a similar set-up under which
scientific naval studies are directed
solely for the Navy and by the Navy.
1t is to meet modern naval problems
and to place the most up-to-date
scientific devices into use on the YES
sells of our fleet. In this connection,
DR.. Hulburt commented, the Bu-
reau is almost as much concerned
though in keeping superfuous CAD
gets off the Navy's ships as it is in
putting on effective ones"
Studies Optical Properties.
DR.. Hulburts particular field of
research has to do with the study
of the optical properties of the atmo-
sphere of fog and of ocean water
with mira red and ultra violet radi-
ations.
Although he is superintendent of
physical optics, he humorously said,
my optics are chiefly the kind you
don't look through
During the course of his researches
however, DR.. Hulburt first published
the observation that the light on the
sea is strongly polarized, thus pro-
ducing glare, and that the use
of polarized glasses tends to miti-
gate it. His Oun pra cticaI app1i