SCIENCE GUILD

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 111, 11 May 1923, Page 7

SCIENCE GUILD

ADVANCE OF SCIENTIFIC

DISCOVERY

GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA

COMPAEISON. OF EXPENDITURE.

(PROM OCR OWN COBREBPONDENT.)

LONDON, 3rd March.

That all the people should realise the value o! science and support its development and application to the affairs of every-day life is the broad aim of the British Science Guild, which received the endorsement, by way of resolution, of a meeting held in the Mansion House, with the Lord Mayor of London presiding. The rewarding of men who benefit mankind by solving' scientific problems was among the points urged by the speakers.

The activities of the British Science Guild are now in process of being extended to the Dominions, branches having been already established in Australia.

When the guild was founded in 1905, its first object was stated to be to convince British people, by means of publications and meetings, of "the necessity of applying the methods' of science to all branches of human endeavour, and thus to further the progress and increase the welfare of the Empire," stated the Lord Mayor, in opening the meeting, which was attended by several hundreds of people invited by the council of the guild. Pointing out that this was an age of science, when such wonders as X-ray, radium, and wireless telephony were accepted almost as commonplace, the Lord Mayor said that from scientific work now being carried on we might expect results of even greater value than those already achieved. New industries were continually being founded upon scientific discoveries, but old as well as new business and all public affairs must also adopt scientific methods if they were to be administered efficiently;

Lord Askwith, X.C.8., K.C., president of the guild, proposed the motion by which those present pledged themselves to support the efforts of the guild to promote national and Imperial interests, from a conviction that the progressive use of scientific knowledge was essential to industry and commerce. "Science discovers, invention constructs, industry produce*," Lord Askwith said, indicating the important part played by science in the life of a nation. Scientific discovery was going forward with giant strides, upsetting the equilibrium of nations and bringing" new things into the lives of men and women; so much so that industrialists and men of c&mmerce must be panting after it, out of breath in their endeavour to keep pace with it. This made it all the more important that our Empire should have the knowledge of scientific discoveries quickly and be able to distribute it and apply it. To "popularise science" was the description applied by Lord Askwith to the aim of the guild, having this object in view.

The diffusion of scientific knowledge and the establishing of some system of reward for discovery were denned as the two main points of the guild's propaganda by Sir Bonald Ross, X.C.8., F.R.S., the eminent scientist and medical investigator, who seconded the motion. By "popularising science" it was not only meant to give the public a knowledge of scientific discoveries, but also to give the' public what had been called "the spirit of science" by His Majesty in his reply to a message from the president regarding the meeting. This spirit was being diffused by a number of agencies, including even some of the most popular newspapers, and, Sir Eonald Eoss said, he was certain that it was obtaining a stronger and stronger hold on the people of this country and the ciyilised world. While admitting that a great deal of encouragement was being given to scientific research through the provision of funds from both private and public sources, he pointed out a need of greater support in one direction. Classifying scientific investigation under two headings, direct and inverse, he asserted that practically the whole of the funds was spent in supporting the former. The direct operations were carried on at the universities, almost wholly by young men, and the results were recorded, put away, and, he feared, often lost.

"Can you not do something, for the problem solvers?" Sir Eonald appealed, on behalf of the men who carry out the inverse operations. Nearly all the greatest benefits of science had been given by this class of man,. which included Darwin. The guild thought that the country should do something for men in this class, who were not being subsidised from any of the funds, not being given doles for direct observation at the universities, but many of whom were working steadily and might make discoveries .of tremendous importance. After giving instances of past neglect of discoverers of important scientific truths, not only in Britain, Sir Bonald Ross said that the Germans had more intelligence in this respect before the war, whatever they might have now or have had during it.

The annual eppenditure of the British Empire on the investigation of science was mentioned by Sir Eonald as being something like one-quarter of a'millipn. While he believed that the United States of America was spending three times that sum, if not four times it. ■■

Sir Joseph Cook, High Commissioner for Australia, spoke on the general aspect of science in its application within the Empire. IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY. Sir J. J. Thornton, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, expected to be present at the Mansion House, but he was prevented. However, in an interview he insisted on the importance of pure research as a factor in the development of trade and industry.

"It is often forgotten," he said, "that electricity as an art is only some ninety years old, and dates back in effect to the discovery by Faraday in. 1831, of the induction of electric currents. At that time electricity belonged to the realm of pure research, and to-day in its various aspects it has become one of the world's great industries. This relation between pure research,and industry remains as intimate to-day as it has 'been throughout the history of science. To illustrate from one of my own researches. In 1897 I discovered in the Cavendish laboratory the existence of electrons. At the moment the discovery wa« that of an interesting phenomenon; but' there was no indication then that this would be followed by any practical application. Twenty years, however, paraed, and the discovery has been utilised an a vast commercial scale in the electric valves now so generally used in wireless telegraphy and telephony. Consider, again, the discovery of argon by Hamsay. Hamsay found it as a comparatively useless gas present in tha atmosphere, and in making the dlicovsry cleared uj a tb.«-

retical anomaly. To-day argon is the basis of a flouriehing electric lights, industry. Wireless In its various phase* illustrates the thesis admirably. Hertz when he was working on the so-called Hertzian waves never imagined their utilisation for the purpose of transmitting messages, but it was the theoretical work done by Hertz that made the introduction by Marconi of wireless possible. Take again the old coherer. Branly, long before wireless was thought of, had noted that a pile of loose filings became a good conductor of electricity if a high tension electric, current.was disoharged close to them. This.discovery seemed to have no practical bearing ; but in it depended all the early working of wireless telegraphy. The. whols branch of chemistry knqwn as colloidal chemistry started with the noting down of strange phenomena. Research followed, and the application of the results obtained has yielded valuable results in connection with, the treatment of ores, in tanning, and in many other industries.

"The vast dye trade again was th« direct result of pure research, and it isonly in the later stages of development that pure research gave way to ad'hoc'in- i vestigations. At the end^ of the war there was an jnstanoe .where results, of purely theoretical interest were being brought into the realm of practical value in the case of the supersonic waves which we were on the point of adapting for "Underwater signalling. It would be possible to multiply these instances indefinitely and to show in every branch of science that pure research is commercially definitely remunerative. . ' i"As to the future, to forecast is'alwayß dangerous. Take one new departure alone—the break-up of the atom. At present the feat has been achieved, but co far very much greater energy is required to effect disruption than is recovered through disruption. All one can do at present is to note down results and to continue research."