Scientific Progress

Southland Times, Issue 21273, 19 December 1930, Page 19

Scientific Progress

Year of Rare Satisfaction for Scientists

(By Eric N. Davis.)

To record progress made in scientific fields during the past twelve months of 1930 affords rare satisfaction: a position can be reported that has been experienced only twice before in the annals of human history. Even prehistoric man could not fail to notice, if he did not understand, the five great planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, but it was not until the years 1781 and 1846 respectively that their companions Uranus and Neptune were discovered by astronomers. For a quarter of a century the staff at the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, had been searching the night sky for an unknown planet that, they thought, might be the cause of observed irregularities in the movements of Neptune; and on March 13, 1930, the anniversary of the birth of the late Dr. Lowell, whose brilliant mathematical calculations prophesied it, a major planet, since named Pluto, closely agreeing in position, size and brilliance with his expected “Planet X,” was definitely located. This discovery increases from seven to eight the number of heavenly bodies which, like the earth, owe their light, heat, and motion to our central sun. Incidentally, it also doubles, apart from comets, the extent of our solar system, and will certainly be of vast importance in testing theories of its origin. It is estimated that Pluto is 45 times as far away from the sun as is the earth, or about 4,185,000,000 miles, and in this connection it is interesting to note that studies at the Observatory of the University of Virginia show that starlight is absorbed by space, with the consequence that failure fully to appreciate this fact in the past may have caused exaggerated estimates of the inter-Stella distances. It is possible that the hundreds of thousands of light-years may shrink to tens of thousands, but as even these latter figures spell hundreds of quadrillions of miles the lay minds cannot be much less amazed at the vastness of astronomical measurements. Vacuum Not Empty. A new conception of space, by the way, was presented by a Cambridge physicist at the 1930 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when Dr. Dirac propounded the theory that a perfect vacuum, instead of an empty nothingness, is really a region of space in which all the states of minus energy and none of those of plus energy are occupied. If this is so, there is everywhere an infinite density of minus energy electrons, and all the material things of the universe are vacant spaces in this immensity of minus energy. The theory explains the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, the proton, which chemical science now believes makes up in conjunction with electrons all chemical elements, as a sort of hole in the distribution of minus energy electrons. The hole can be made to disappear by filling it up with an electron of minus energy, , so a minus amount of energy must be put into it. This means that the "hole” itself will have a plus energy, and it therefore appears reasonable to interpret this hole as a proton. Weather Forecasters. Meanwhile, from outer space the earth is being incessantly bombarded by a form of radiation, called the cosmic rays, of.extreme penetrating power and short wavelength, which Dr Millikan in America has been studying intently for some years.' Sir Arthur Eddington, infers from the fact that these rays are able to pass easily through thicknesses of metal or water sufficient to afford a shield against ordinary Xor gamma-rays .that in them we have examples of atomic annihilation, of atoms divesting themselves to the last shred of their energy of constitution and passing out of existence. Dr Millikan, however, believes that in reality it is a sign that somewhere in space there is a continual formation of the common elements helium, oxygen, silicon, and iron, and that in consequence it may be that matter is being rebuilt simultaneously with its decomposition elsewhere. The interesting fact has been discovered, however, that these rays, originating at some unfathomable distance in space may, through the instrument through which they are measured, be used as accurate weather forecasters. This instrument, the electroscope, it is found, will measure with much greater accuracy than a barometer the depth of the air overhead at any point of the earth’s surface, and it is recommended to be used at every meteorological station. Dream Fulfilled. A scientific dream of ages, namely, atombuilding, has at last been achieved after seven years of experimenting in the University of Chicago laboratories. In each experiment about a dozen of the alpha-particles of helium cast off by thorium were admitted into a glass cylinder filled with nitrogen gas and supersaturated with water vapour. Their transit through the gas at a speed of 11,000 miles per second caused the water vapour to condense in each track —like a thread of steam, of which photographs could be taken. After the exposure of 10,000 plates, one showed evidence of direct impact between one helium atom and one of nitrogen, with the momentary formation of -another compound, but as

nearly 24,000 other plates were exposed before a duplicate was secured, it is evident that the utilization of atomic energy has still to be sought. Two other achievements of the chemical laboratory are distinctly worthy of mention. In the laboratory of the United States Bureau of Standards it is claimed that pure rubber has been obtained in a perfectly pure transparent form, and this, dissolvedin ether and cooled to eighty degree centigrade below zero, yielded minute crystals of indiarubber that were visible to the naked eye. iklthough only the most sanguine can see in this possibilities of the natural product being produceci commercially by artificial means, these are admittedly definite steps on the road which may, one distant day, lead to a genuine synthetic rubber. Aeronautics Advance. The second example is the metal beryllium, the lightest of those unaffected by atmospheric corrosion. Hitherto it was only obtainable in the form of impure flakes which were difficult to form into ingots, but it is now claimed that it is easily deposited by an electro-chemical process. As alloys of beryllium with aluminium are said to be as strong as steel but to be as light as aluminium, its possibilities in the construction of aircraft and motor vehicles, for instance, should be immense, while many other suitable applications present themselves readily to the imagination. Aeronautics during the past year- has witnessed many remarkable advances, without any, however, being of a really revolutionary character. If speed alone is considered, there is now in existence a thoroughly effective military fighter capable of speeds greater than 200 miles per hour at a height of three miles above the earth. Reliability, on the other hand, could scarcely desire better testimony than the long-distance flights, noticeably from England to Australia and South Africa, that have been accomplished in light aeroplanes ■with engines of a calibre comparable with those of a motor cycle, as well as the fact that a machine has been kept flying in the air continuously for over three weeks. Steam-Cooled Engines. Perhaps the most noteworthy departure from standard practice is a complete system of steam cooling for the engine which has undergone successfully rigorous tests. The water is allowed to boil in the engine jackets; the steam is led into the surface skin of the leading edge of the wings where it condenses again, and then flows back, via a small tank, to the engine. Experiments with the aim of dispensing with the present type of petrol engine are being made, but the Diesel, on account of its weight per horse-power developed, has not yet been commercially successful. In America, the Packard-Diesel, weighing no more than 2.26 libs for each of the 225 h.p. developed, has made many flights, but the tragic death cf its most efficient advocate has retarded its development. Radio developments have mainly been along the lines of substituting for fallible human agency a Robot-like accuracy in such matters as marine and other signals. In aviation, for example, a device in which two vibrating reeds on his instrument board warn a pilot of deviation to right or left of a stated track is said to have functioned with complete success during lengthy periods of fog. Television Improves Slowly. Television, it must be confessed, does not seem to have advanced very far along the road towards the goal its enthusiastic apostles claimed to be in sight, and still remains marked more by what may justifiably be termed laboratory than general achievements. Still-picture transmission, on the other hand, has reached a pitch of perfection unaffected by conditions of time or distance, and replicas of originals have been sent from the Antipodes for publication in British journals. The tale might be continued almost indefinitely were space, as affecting the printer, not so limited. In laboratories all over the world there have been reached results the- final influence of which on the well-being of mankind may be difficult to appraise. Perhaps this survey may usefully be left with quotations from the recent utterances of two celebrated scientists. “Every application of science presupposes discovery of science to be applied, so that the useful applications of science are in the last analysis limited by the extent to which scientific research has been successful in uncovering the hidden faces of Nature.” "With our inherited ideas regarding matter and energy, corpuscle and wave, continuity and discontinuity, all thrown overboard or at least so modified as to make them all unrecognizable, we appear to have before us a boiling pot out of which something of epochal significance may arise.” Who would be venturesome enough to say that the coming year may not supply material for a survey before which the present summary would fade into, insignificance?

(Copyright in all Countries: Published by Arrangement with Newspaper Features. Limited.)