Evening star., 1950-05-29
New Building Block
OF Universe Needed
North CoroIino U. Professor
ExpIoins Theoretical Problem
By Thomos Z. Henry

t CHAPEL HILL, N. c.. May 2e,-ThiS
Is an age left anchorleSS in the infinite.
A basic building block Of the weird
new universe Of curving. expanding and
contracting space and time is the major
need Of preSent-day science and philoSo-
ply.
Such is the belief Of DR.. Archibald
Henderson, long recognized as Americas
foremost mathematical philosopher and
exponent of relativity. as the veteran
University Of North Carolina professor
surveys the chaos Of the times from
his Chapel Hill garden.
The day is long past, he believes,
when there can be any acceptance Of
the static, three -dimensional universe
Of the past generation. Yet TO the mind
the new reality would always seem un-
real and ungraSpable until somebody
provides a simple geometric"' 'lnit with
the same relationship to he new
geometry as the right triangle to the
old.
II recall" he says. "the days when
they were first talking Of communi-
eating with people of Mars. The oues-
ton naturally arose: What kind Of
language could intelligent beings on
this other planet, presuming there were
any there. understand?
Professor Had an Idea.
"At the time some French professor
came up with q quite sensible idea. On
some surface like the Sahara desert, he
said. why not construct a number Of
enormous right triangles so large that
they could be distinguished by MartianS
through the powerful instruments they
might be assumed to possess? His
thought was that however different
might have been the development Of
the mind on another planet there was
one thing which an intelligent being
anywhere in the universe must share
with the earth-the concept Of this right
triangle which was basic to any pos
sible comprehension Of space. This idea
would not be sound any longer and We
could have no idea OF the Martian ideas
of space"
Still, DR.. Henderson insists, there must
be some basic unit of reality-some sort
of curved triangle which will serve as Q
basis out of which the new space can
be built.
II think could make something ap-
preaching this figure" he says by carv-
ing tennis ball with a razor"
Second basic philosophical failure Of
the atomic age, DR.. Henderson points
out, is the complete failure to bridge the
gap between atomiSm and continuity
the idea that there is a final. indivisible
particle of everything, like the electron
or proton of matter or the quanta Of
energy. and the idea that all things rep
resent a continuum with no definite
breaks from nothingness upward. Yet
the new physics has had to take these
for granted although. as DR.. Henderson
says. II can't believe Etnstein himself
really believes in them
Tells Of Disappointment.
He has been disappointed. he says, In
all the developments which have followed
Einsteins original general theory Of rela-
tivity. which was open to objective proof
through astronomical observations and
physical experiments. 1t left much to be
explained by special theories which have
not held up
What" he asks sis to be the building
block of our new universe in which there
Is no fiat space? 1t makes no differ
ence what model you choose-Einstein,
leMaitre. Eddington The same basic
building block must At for all of them.
We must lay solid foundation for this
new geometry as the right triangle Ia
the solid foundation of Euclid"
In any event. DR.. Henderson says, man
must abandon any concept of q static
universe which Is the same yesterday.
today and tomorrow. 1t may be expand
ing or contracting, but there can be no
understanding Of 1t until the basic unit
Is reached and there is q bridge between
continuity and atomism.