Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-09
Dr.. Bush Sees
0verpopu|ation
As World Peril
By THOMAS r. n
Science Editor OF The Star

DR.. Vannevar Bush, who di-
rected the Nations scientific eff
fort during World War II as head
OF the Office of Research and
Development and who has been
one of the outstanding figures in
American science for 80 years, /
submitted his final report as
president of the Carnegie In
stitution of Washington at the
annual meeting of the institu-
tons trustees today.
Leaving the post which he has |
held for the past II years DR.. /
Bush. in his last report to the
trustees at their annual meeting. |
sounded solemn warnings of the
perils ahead but expressed his !
faith that. largely through the
advances of science, they may be
avoided.
The perils. he stressed. lay not
only in the possibility of a total
wal "IlAlIA SlNillAd llOll AiaA N4S 1
could survive but in the increaS- |
ing birthrate and the steady de- |
pletion OF many natural re-
sources.
We can see, he said, that
man is headed for catastrophe
unless he mends his ways and
takes thought for the morrow.
This is quite apart from the
immediate question whether he
will use the split atom or a
trained virus to turn back civili-
cation and force it to begin
again its slow upward climb.
Population Trouble
war aside, man is still headed
for trouble. The worlds popula-
ton is increasing at a rate which |
renders distress, famine and dis
indignation inevitable unless we
learn to hold Jul numbers with
in reason. New methods of eX-
tending the food supply, power
full enough though they may be. /
can only postpone the crisis
Among the ways the final
catastrophe may be postponed
through research, Dr.. Bush said,
are through 'C%ultivating the
sea, revivifying the land. produc-
ton of synthetic foods, and a
better understanding OF photo
synthesis." the key process OF all
lie, which may result in enor-
nous increases in natural pro-
ductlon.
Still, he warned, all these can
only postpone the end unless the
birthrate avalanche stops.
Quite different, DR.. Bush
stressed, is the depletion of nat
ural resources. So far as energy
is concerned. he said, the deple-
ton of fossil fuels like coal and
oil may not be SO serious IF we
consider the long pull and not
just how to keep our mounting
horde of automobiles running for
another decade or So
Hope in Sun
Atomic fuels, he explained. |
may become ine%naustlDle if
science learns to control the
process Of fusion Of hydrogen
atoms into helium as well as it
has learned to control the SIM
pier fSSion process. For the long |
run, however. the prospects OF
Harvesting the ineXhaustible |
energy Of the sun by means of
chemical processes seems to offer /
the greatest hope. he stressed.
But in the field of metals, he |
said, we shall be dependent or
finding and exploiting natural |
deposits and we can see the end
OF the process OF Just digging
metals out of the ground
He added: We can use alumni |
mum and magnesium, to be sure. |
and there is plenty OF the former |
in clays and Of the latter in the |
sea, and we shall in all proba- /
blllty have the energy available |
with which to recover them. But /
in the kind of civilization we /
are building, We need more than
these.
We need to know more OF 1
the chemistry Of rocks, the move
ment of materials in the crust, |
mountain building, whether the |
poles have shifted and where ]
they have moved. whether the |
skin of the earth has slipped /
over its core. and whether it
Is still slipping. We need to /
know how the sun has influenced /
the course of events on this |
planet"
Trained Collectors
All these. he said. probably |
are essential for the future find
ing and processing of metals.
Eventually" he said, per
haps we shall be able to train /
organisms to recover metals for
us from the seas, as indeed seems |
to have been done at times in |
the past"
Here he was referring to the |
iron-secreting algae. one-celled |
plants, which in long-past mil
leniums built up some of the |
largest iron deposits now known
Presumably they got the iron /
originally from the sea.
DR.. Bush did not suggest. how
ever. the direct approach of sci
ence to these problems. but indi.
Gated solutions will come of
themselves out of undertaking /
fundamental research without
immediate regard to practical
applications.