Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-10-21
Harvesting He'll

Experiments in Britain and the
United States suggest" that both coun-
tries have already achieved controlled
thermometer reactions which produce
neutrons. A Joint statement to that
effect has just been made at Princeton
University by group of distinguished
Anglo-American nuclear scientists. It
Is statement that may well mark a
bright turning point in mans attempt to
harness for peaceful uses the preternat-
urally wild and almost unimaginable
p0wer-a veritable hell-unleashed by
the fusion process of an exploding ny
drogen bomb.
The scientists, all Of whom are as
ISOLATED with the governmental atomic
agencies of Britain and the United
States, have been careful, of course, to
qualify what they have said at Prince
ton. Thus. while indicating consider
able confidence that the fusion reaction
has been controlled on laboratory
scale. they have emphasized that more
experimental work will be necessary to
establish this as fact" And they have
gone on to add, The realization Of the
production Of thermometer neutrons,
II definitely established, would be only
Q step-although an important one-in
the long-range efforts to develop ther-
monuclear reactors for the production
Of economic power"
Despite its qualified nature. how
ever. this statement strongly supports
the optimism voiced last April by Chair
Z -
Energy Commission. At that time, In
commenting on the possibility Of con-
verting the H-bomb into mans servant.
he declared that the United States was
making encouraging progress" True,
he stressed that many formidable"
problems would have to be solved before
the thermometer reaction-as distinct
from the A-bomb's fission process-could
be controlled for nonmilitary purposes.
But he nevertheless made clear that
there was solid ground for the belief
that all such problems would be solved
eventually, Gin the somewhat distant fu-
ture." He summed up the outlook by
quoting these words from specialist In
the field: Anyone who thinks fusion
cannot be controlled is fool; but any
one who thinks 1t Is going to be easy Is
an IDIOT"
Coupled with these words, the
Princeton statement-which plainly in
dicates that encouraging progress" has
been made In Britain, too-leaves little
room for doubt that the awesome de-
structive force Of the H-bomb, far from
being uncomfortable. can and VIII be
bridled In due course. This means that
humanity, in the next 10 or 20 years or
perhaps even sooner, may have available
q practically limitless source Of power
for industrial and other benelcent uses
power whose basic fuel (deuterium or
heavy hydrogen) exists In vast abund-
ance In all the worlds oceans and
seas. In that respect, as far as the
earth's explosive population growth is
: concerned, the prospect Is definitely
reassuring.
Undoubtedly, like our own and Brit
aims, Soviet scientists are also busily
at work on this hell-harnessing project.
And maybe, as with Sputnik, they will
succeed in doing the job first, But If
they do, If they manage to score such
an achievent ahead of our Anglo-Amer
lean specialists, their winning Of the
race will not be deplorable. For COM
petition Of this kind, no matter who
takes the top pioneering honors, can
hardly fail to beneft the whole Of man
kind. More than that, assuming that an
H-bomb war does not intervene, 1t can
hardly fail to make contribution Of
unreasonable value to decent and
lasting world peace.