Evening star., 1946-08-04
Atom Scientists Rival
Medieval AIchemists
With New Wizardy
By Thomas R. Henry
St1r StaH CoFrsspendsnt

are the temporary, barracks like
structures which house the grimly
silent uranium boilers, within whose
thick concrete walls all the weird
and long-discredited dreams of the
medieval fanatics have become real
titles.
But the "alchemist" has changed. |
The smart young collegian has taken
the place of the masked monk, and
he no longer performs strange mid
night rites in an effort to persuade
Satan to buy his soul in trade for
the secret Of transmitting lead into
gold. He could do 1t easily enough
without any aid from Beelzebub-if
he wanted to waste time on such
silly job. He is making many things
Of infinitely greater value than gold |
Produces Element Changes.
1t Is worth while, for example, to
change gold into mercury-a very
exceptional kind of mercury, the
green flash OF which, when placed
in an electric arc, has become the
ultimate standard of length in the |
universe. He is making more than |
SO elements, or varieties of elements, |
which never existed in the world be-
fore, or were produced so labor
iously and in such minute quanti-
ties that they were of little practical
value. !
This new alchemy remains in its
Infancy. The young scientists who
started working on the atomic bomb
Tor the Army and now have been
transferred to the payroll of the
Monsanto Chemical Co. of st. Louis, |
which Is operating the Clinton Lab
oratory here, feel that they have
only stepped on the threshold of the
possible accomplishments with the
great uranium pile" which boils
ceaselessly behind its thick shields.
Used for Cancer Study.
All the radioactive isotopes of
elements nov being produced are
Tor use in scientific experimental
tion. Only one Of them has any
known value at present outside the
laboratory and this, curiously |
enough, is one which the pile does
not produce very effectively. This
is potassium 80, which has become
the standard medicine in treatment
OF certain hitherto very refractory
blood diseases and which has DO
tentlalltles in the treatment of can
Ger, although at present adequate
methods have not been worked out. |
A major problem of the atomic
physicists is well illustrated by this
difficulty in producing radioactive
potassium. Chemically, it is identi-
cal with ordinary potassium. Physi-
cally, its atom weighs a trifle more
and, like radium, it is radioactive, !
constantly shooting out infinitesmal |.
minute particles at the speed of |
light. Ordinary potassium can be
placed In the pile and subjected to |
the terrific neutron bombardment
from the uranium. A very minute
traction OF 1t becomes radioactive, I
however, and physicians have found /.
that the end product does not suit |
their purposes. They must give
practically killing dose of potas- !
siurn to get any effect.
Hope for Transmutation.
A better way, to which the Oak |
Ridge staff looks forward with en-
thusiasm, is an actual transmutation !
of elements. 1t is easily possible to
change ordinary sulphur into radio !
active potassium. All the potassium
in the resulting product will be ra-
dioactive while the sulphur will re-
main unchanged. 1t is easy for /
skilled chemist to separate potas- /
sium and sulphur, since they are
different elements. with the result |
that pure sample of the CELL
bombarding material can be OBJ
tained which the physician can
administer in any dosage he pleases.
A much larger force of chemists
than Is now at Oak Ridge would be
required, however, to carry out this
work on large scale. There remain
plenty Of problems on how to handle
the highly dangerous materials, how
to carry on complex chemical ma
nipulations from behind three or
four feet Of concrete. The medieval
alchemist might feel that even
Beelzebub would not be able to tell
him how to do all this.
Radioisotopes Invisible.
Most Of the radioisotopes produced
are in invisibly minute quantities.
Placed In an ordinary glass they
cannot be seen. The amount Is so /
small that if the glass is turned
upside down they will not fall out.
Yet such an amount of some ele-
ments might be sufficient to kill
everybody in room exposed to it.
The first order executed by the
pile was for some minute quantities
of radioactive carbon. Each sample |
weighed only a 10-thousandth of i
an ounce. The material is weakly
radioactive. 1t is not considered at
all dangerous since it emits only beta
rays-electrons-which striking the
body at the speed of light hardly
would penetrate the skin Yet, toI
be on the safe side, each 10TH thou
sandth Of an ounce was packed in
a lead can weighing about two
pounds. For the more dangerous
elements, 10TH h-thousandth of an
ounce is packed in a lead container
which a man hardly can lift.
The lifetimes of the new elements |
being produced at Oak Ridge vary
from few seconds to $4,000 years. |
Some OF them hardly can be gotten
out of the boiler before they are
''dead"-that is, reverted to some
stable and yalueless substance. It'll
will be necessary eventually to per-
form complex physical and chemical
experiments at the boilers mouth.
DIR. Wigner Heads Unit.
Directing all this work is a man
who, given face mask and black
robe, might easily play the part of |
a medieval alchemist were it not for
his quick wit and very practical
hun1or. He is DR.. Eugene P. Wigner
Princeton physics professor, who was
one of the first to realize the posi-
bility of producing an atomic bomb
and is credited with major part in
selling the idea to the late President
Roosevelt.
But DR.. Wigners thoughts now
are entirely directed to the use of
atomic eperpv tn halr y,oap I;,a