GREAT DRAMA OF SKIES

Evening Star, Issue 20846, 16 July 1931, Page 1

GREAT DRAMA OF SKIES

TOLD BY COSMIC RAYS Voices of a cosmic drama _ that is being enacted hundreds of millions of millions of miles from the earth were interpreted by Sir James Jeans, noted British astronomer. They told him a secret for which ancient alchemists searched in vain (says ths ‘ Christian Science Monitor’). Through research of the last six months, Sir James declared, natural science has amassed “ convincing evidence ” of the annihilation of matter in the vast spaces between the stars. Tho process by which this is going on, he said, discloses that “ time itself ” is the philosopher’s stone which the alchemists could not find. It may not transmute base metal into gold, but it is changing the basic elements of matter—a feat which classical physicists believed impossible. Speaking in Cambridge, Mass., at the first annual lecture of tho Harvard University chapter of Sigma XL, Sir James dealt intimately with distances so vast that even cosmic rays, speeding at the rate of 6,000,000,000,000 miles a year could not have crossed them since the universe “ first began.” He pictured the sun losing weight as fast “ as if 600 Niagara Falls upon its surface were continuously pouring themselves into space.” And he smiled quietly at tho suggestion that bntheory of the annihilation of matter mean’s that some day the earth and stars may no longer exist—smiled because the “ some day ” is quite a 'ong time in the future, perhaps millions and millions and millions and millions of years. EVIDENCE OF PROCESS.

“ Cosmic rays,” Sir James explained, “ are the evidence that reaches us of the process of annihilation of matter that is taking place in space. _ It is as if a house collapsed. We might not ■see it, but we might hear the' noise. When an atom collapses, or collapses sufficiently to change its form, cosmic validation results. And because energy may change its form but cannot bo destroyed, we know that the * weight ’ of the radiation must exactly equal the weight of elements of tho atom which are destroyed when tho atom collapses.” The weight of the “ bullets ” of radiation, which are shot out by an atomic collapse, recently has been determined with sufficient accuracy to support the theory that cosmic rays must come from the destruction of atoms in interstellar space. Sir James declared. The weight of the “ hardest ” cosmic rays, he said, has been determined with an error of only 5 per cent., and; found to equal the weight of the elements which are destroyed with the collapse of a helium atom. Another “ heavy ” cosmic ray has been found to equal the weight of the elements in a hydrogen atom, with an error of onlv 3 per cent, involved in the calculations. Virtual agreement in both cases, Sir James believes, is amply sufficient to rule out any element of chance.

TAKES ISSUE WITH MILLIKAN. Sir James'took issue with the theory of Dr Robert A. Millikan, noted American, physicist, that cosmic rays were the voices of atoms being “ hammered together ” in space instead of destroyed. Dr Millikan holds that sorm. of the “softer” cosmic rays result from the combination of fifty-six atonu of hydrogen into one atom of iron. Sir James admitted that his own theory could not account for tho origin of tho “ soft ” cosmic rays. But ho declared that so complicated a process as forming iron out of hydrogen—a process -possible only in the vast laboratory of space—should give out a series of “ bullets ” of radiation rather than the single “ bullet ” which Dr Millikan’s extensive research with cosmic rays disclosed. What is happening, Sir James believes, is a vast “ unbottling ” process in which matter is changing throughout time in a manner of which the old alchemists did not dream. Modern concepts of tho law of conservation of energy, he said, disclose both matter, and radiation as energy only in different forms. Matter is virtually _ bottled energy, he said. Its annihilation is simply tho breaking of ■ tho bottles which sets radiation free to wander through space. Natural science. Sir James said, has not yet determined whether this constantly proceeding process of “uu bottling ” energy involves all atomic structures, or only the atoms which compose substances far heavier than those known on the earth. His own view is that all atoms are actors in this cosmic drama. But he believes the pursuit of a definite answer to this question is ono of the important tasks before the astrophysicists, m which is to be found the explanation of one of the fundamental processes of the physical universe.