CANADIAN ATOM RESEARCH

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25953, 5 November 1949, Page 7

CANADIAN ATOM RESEARCH

‘ASTOUNDING’ RESULTS CLAIMED (Rec. 9 p.m.) OTTAWA, November 3. The, Winnipeg “Tribune” to-day reported that a team of atomic scientists at the University of Manitoba had made "astounding nuclear advances.” The team, headed by Dr. Robert Pringle, a Scotsman, wno had worked with atomic scientists at Edinburgh University, had developed two new atomic researen devices These devices were a portable gamma ray spectrometer, which experts claim is destined to replace the Geiger counter in detecting radioactive materials; and a special type of gamma ray spectrometer, “the only one of its kind outside the United States’ Oak Ridge atomic centre.” /The “Tribune” said Dr. Pringle would not talk about the instruments, but reliable reports indicated that the sensitivity of the portable spectrometer was 100 to 400 times more than that of the Geiger counter. “Unlike the Geiger counter, the new spectrometer can distinguish between thorium and uranium,” said the newspaper. "Thorium is often found to be radio-active, but geologists claim it is ’of no consequence at present in the production of uranium.”