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MEASURING ATOMIC RADIATION

■ GERMAN WARTIME DISCOVERY A German wartime discovery in measuring atomic radiation promises to aid American scientists in atomic . and cancer research. The device is known as a "scintillation counter." It was constructat at the University of Chicago by Dr James S. Allen, of the school's institute for nuclear studies. He built it on information furnished to American scientists' by Government agencies investigating wartime atomic energy developments in Germany. The counter is a box containing a bit of fluorescent matter and a sensitive photo-electric tube. Atomic particles or rays, admitted to the box through a small hole, produce bursts of light in the fluorescent matter. The light is picked up .by the photo-electric tube and changed into electric current which can be amplified and measured. Dr Allen said the device was a 'noticeable improvement" over the ionisation chamber method of measuring radiation and should "facilitate research in nuclear physics and various branches of biology, including the field of cancer."

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19480406.2.62

Bibliographic details

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14638, 6 April 1948, Page 6

Word Count
161

MEASURING ATOMIC RADIATION Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14638, 6 April 1948, Page 6

MEASURING ATOMIC RADIATION Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14638, 6 April 1948, Page 6