Evening star., 1947-03-24
the

review Of % actisitss Of the Roekefeiler % roanda @
.ionufor ,,t 1915 by Its president. Raymond B.
The funds for the erection of the giant
200-inch telescope on Mount Palomar
in California have been supplied by
three Rockefeller boards: The Inter-
national Education Board, the General
Education Board and The Rockefeller
Foundation In 1916 the Foundation
made final grant of $250,000 to COM
plete the project, bringing to a total
of $6,250,000 the funds appropriated to
the California Institute of Technology
for this unique instrument of scientific
research.
What is the justification for this
huge expenditure of money and effort?
The answer, in general terms, lies in
the unconquerable exploring urge within
the mind of man. This new telescope
will project mans sight into the uni
verse two times farther than 1t has ever
gone before-to distance more than
a thousand million light-years away.
1t will open up an unexplored sphere
eight times the volume of that which
has hitherto been sounded. What lies
edge? Do the stellar systems extend
on indefinitely, or is boundary finally
reached beyond which there are fewer
Interpretation of the immense velocity
with which all the stellar systems ap-
pear to be receding? Is it pseudo
velocity caused by curvature of space
or by some property OF light? Why
S.,1x~ \, - ss,~, f~Ny of In f1ra
countless Milky Ways send light that
with strange uniformity shifts always
to the red end of the spectrum? Since
stars and nebulae are vast aggregations
of atoms or atomic fragments, reacting
on each other under conditions Of pres
sure and temperature beyond anything
tories, what secrets can We learn that
will add to our knowledge of fundamen-
tai physics?
The Hunger for knowledge.
But this knowledge is dangerous, it will
be said. OF course it is dangerous. All
knowledge Is now dangerous Indeed,
knowledge has always been dangerous.
For knowledge means power, and power
can be used for evil purposes as well as
good. But the answer does not lie in try
ing to curb science or fix boundaries be-
yond which intellectual adventure shall
not be allowed to go. Such course, even
Ii it could succeed, would return us to an
animal existence in which mere survival
was the only goal. The search for truth
is, as it always has been, the noblest ex-
preston of the human spirit. Mans hum
ger for knowledge about himself, his
environment and the forces by which he
is surrounded, gives human life its mean
ing and purpose, and clothes it with final
dignity.
Civilization is not being betrayed by
science The betrayal, if it comes, will
be by men who do not know how to use
science wisely. The telescope on Mount
Palomar is q mighty symbol of mans
unique distinction: his aspiration to
know. Whether that distinction will be-
come the instrument of his own destruc-
ton depends upon how rapidly he can
travel the long road toward goals of
social organization and moral control
that are now only family seen on the
horizon.
Telescopes are not Enough.
While we cannot put brakes on intel
lectual adventure, it must be admitted
studies and our research that imperils
the future. The disproportion between
the physical power at our disposal and
our capacity to make good use of it is
growing with every day that passes. We
are in the midst of a revolution in our
physical environment so vast and 50