1964 A NOTABLE YEAR FOR SCIENCE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30634, 28 December 1964, Page 11

1964 A NOTABLE YEAR FOR SCIENCE

(NZ. Press Assn. — Copyright) WASHINGTON, December 27. In 1964 scientists got history’s first close-up pictures of the moon; they learned more about leukemia, . the killing cancer of I the blood; and they found new signs of | order in the universe. In 1965, if all goes well,; man's instruments will photograph Mars from a distance; of only 5400 miles. Mean-' while, workers in laboratories on earth will move closer to understanding how living, cells form, change and work. In 1964 the American Imp I satellite confirmed that the earth is a “magnetic comet.” From its night side it wags a gigantic "tail,” hundreds of thousands of miles long, consisting of invisible magnetic; lines of force blown out into; space by the “wind” of! charged particles which( streams incessantly from the; sun. Imp's findings may turn out: to be the most important; .space-science achievement of)

1964, but the year’s most senIsational performance was the Ranger VII flight to the moon. Before crashing on the lunar surface on July 31, 1964, Ranger’s television cameras transmitted 4316 photographs to earth. Rangers’ pictures thrilled ! astronomers the world over, i but they left the moon what ;it has always been, an | enigma. i Most of the mysteries of | Mars, it is safe to assume, will still be mysteries by the end of next year. The Mariner IV spacecraft (is scheduled to fly past Mars next July 14. Launched on (November 28, 1964, it is on a course which should take it within 5400 miles of the planet. If it has not run out of electrical power by next summer, Mariner will take pictures and perform experiments which could explain The so-called Martian canals, tell something about the Martian atmosphere and throw light on what appears from earth to be seasonal climatic changes on the Martian surface. But not until instruments i actually are landed on the 1

I planet—probably not before 1971—will scientists feel they I know for sure whether Mars |has ever harboured life. In 1964, scientists probed deeper than ever before into the inexpressibly tiny heart of the atom and farther than ever before into the incomiprehensibly vast universe of (stars and star galaxies. I At the Brookhaven 'National Laboratory on Long | Island scientists discovered (“Omega Minus,” one of more I than 30 “strange particles” (discovered to date in the minuscule nuclei of the atoms which make up the universe (of matter. Omega Minus and other “particles” live for about one ten-billionth of a second. Its existence had been predicted as the keystone of a theory explaining the whole family of particles residing in the atomic nucleus, and its actual discovery gave validity to the theory. The American Medical Association considers 1964 notable for the “strong evidence” it produced “for the virus theory of human leukemia.” If leukemia is caused by a virus, possibly something can be done about it. The year also encouraged

investigators of virus hepatitis. It may be, the A.M.A. said, that “a long-needed break in hepatitis research” is near. Another big medical news item of 1964, according to the A.M.A., was “the harsh judgments on cigarette smoking’” published by the United States Health Service. In 1964, biologists found out more about cell differentiation, a mysterious process basic to life itself. This kind of knowledge may make it possible some day to set up “biological factories” to manufacture cells needed to repair or replace diseased tissues, according to the National Science Foundation. On other science fronts:— Food and child health experts said it would take an effort comparable in size to the United States and Soviet space programmes to free the world from malnutrition. The United Nations reported progress in making protein foods from petroleum. Dr. Harrison Brown, of the California Institute of Technology, said a new study indicates civilised

beings may live on hundreds or thousands of planets in our galaxy, but Dr. George Gaylord Simpson, a Harvard biologist, said the existence of in telligent life anywhere else in the universe was “extremely unlikely.” A new age calculation—4.7 billion years—was made for the earth. This would make the planet 150 million years older than scientists had thought. The world's first “stationary satellite" —Syncom lll—was orbited. Because its speed matches the earth’s rotational period, it appears to hang fixed in the sky. A United States Government report said it is feasible to build giant nuclear plants which simultaneously produce electrical power and make sea water fresh. Such desalting and power plans could be in operation by 1975. A British archaeologist, Louis Leakey, reported fossil evidence of a species of man 1.25 million years older than any previously known human being.