WEICHING EARTH

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11404, 3 January 1931, Page 12

WEICHING EARTH

HOW FOURTH DIMENSION WOULD LOOK IN SIMPLE LAX-

GUAGE

A SCIENTIST’S AMUSEMENT

WASHINGTON, Sept, S-

A man who weighed the world is putting wires together to show howtli.e figures of the fourth dimension of space would look to men if they could -visualise the laws of that pet theory of higher mathematics. Dr. Paul Heyl, bureau of standards* physicist-, known throughout the world of research, said on September S he had undertaken the new task chiefly for his own amusement, though his products will be preserved by the buieau- The fourth dimension has been his hobby since boyhood.

No human being, Dr. Heyl explained, had ever really imagined the fourth dimension of space. He himself recognises it only iu mathematical theory. Dr. Heyl made a significant contribution to man’s knowledge of absolute, facts when he announced last June, after more than six years’ intensive studv, that the world would weigh 6,592,000,000,0-00.000:000.000 tons.

“One way of putting it” he “is this : If all the human race with all its livestock suddenly were whisked to another planet, the weight of the earth would not be reduced by one-millionth-millionth. ’ ’

He grinned at the suggestion of explaining the fourth dimension in simple language, but he offered: _“A straight line is in the firstdimension ; theoretically, you make it by moving .a dot in any direction. Move that line and you get a" plane figure, such as a square—theoretically, the second dimension. Move the square in a direction not contained in it, such, as up or down, and •you make it cube, a figure of the third dimension. Move that third dimension figure theoretically in some direction which we do not yet comprehend even in imagination, and the result is a figure of the fourth dimension.”

While he spoke, he fingered the three models now complete. One resembled a. ball of popcorn in which only the outlines of the grain could be seen—such a- complicated mass of Wires it. was. Another looked like a set of triangles, all crushed together.

The models varied in size from several inches to more than a foot in diameter. Heyl has been working on them in spare time for more than a year, soldering black and white picture wire together to form the outlines. He hopes to complete them soon. He smiled as he observed that the significance of his work was “perhaps nothing at all.” “But this, you see, is mv way of having fun,” he said, adding with a lighter smile, “I have known more dangerous •hobbies.”