Sees All, Tells All

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29383, 9 December 1960, Page 22

Sees All, Tells All

nose instantly picks on the warmest part of a hostile aircraft. Once it is locked on, that aircraft is doomed. Midas will operate on exactly the same principle, but it will not wastefully dive on to a rising rocket. Instead, hurtling through space, its wonderfully sensitive infra-red camera will detect the heat given off by a flaming “bird" even before it has gathered sufficient thrust to lift itself off the ground. Instantly, Midas will report the position and, later, the height, speed and direction of the missile as it goes on its way. It may sound impossible to detect the heat of a rocket engine which may be hundreds of miles below on earth. In fact, there is virtually no distance at which infra-red radiation cannot oe picked up if the receiving apparatus is sufficiently sensitive. Even the planets reveal some of their secrets this way. By reading the story which infra-red has to tell, an American astronomer has presented new evidence of vegetable life on Mars, and a Frenchman, Andoin Dollfus, has studied the atmosphere of Venus. Infra-red has also come to the aid of the modern police scientist. One of the useful things about infra-red rays is that they have several wavelengths, each of which has differing effects on different substances.

Because of this, and with the aid of an instrument called the infra - red spectrophotometer, police can determine the molecular structure of tiny traces left by a criminal. If it can be shown that similar traces on him or in his possession have exactly the same structure, guilt is scientifically certain. The car of a suspected hit-and-run driver might bear minute traces of paint which appear to have come from the other car. By comparing the molecular structure, the infra-red spectrophotometer can absolutely determine whether the paint is the same or not.

Infra-red, one of the hardest worked handmaidens of science, finds new uses every day. In the military sphere it is unrivalled as a detector, since, unlike radar, infra-red receivers cannot be jammed. One application of this may be of direct benefit to motorists. Today’s soldier, with an infrared set, can clearly spot enemy tanks in pitch darkness or fog. If and when manufacturers get around to fitting "eyes” to cars to enable them to drive more safely in fog, it may well be found that the "jamming” which goes on in any big city is eonfusing to radar. In that case the answer would be “infra-red,” to give every motorist an all-seeing Midas of his own.—Exclusive Press. All right reserved.