SCIENCE OPENS NEW CAREERS

Southland Times, Issue 23664, 12 November 1938, Page 13

SCIENCE OPENS NEW CAREERS

By

WILLIAM SHEPHERD

* OTTAWA THE only sign of life at the weather observation post on the tiny island 200 miles from the coast is the whirling wind gauge on the roof of the building and the ocean waves lapping at the rocky shore. Inside the structure, a time clock, surrounded by meteorological instruments, ticks off the minutes. Eight o’clock! As the hands indicate the hour, science leaps into action. Instruments click and radio beams flash on and off in the small building. A powerful radio, linked with the coastal weather bureau by a special wavelength, starts sending a complete weather report by signals. There is not a human being on the island—it is a crewless weather bureau, operated by radio beams. This picture is one glimpse of the series of new careers that have been opened by science to the men and i women of today. The crewless radio station sending constant reports on weather conditions, is one of the new inventions hovering between experiment and general adoption. It may be five years before it is applied to practical use, but when it is it will open new jobs for men. A total of 10 new ways to success have been opened by science. Here are glimpses of the great new businesses that are just starting their careers—new industries pointing new roads to riches — as pictured by eminent scientists and technicians. In the near future, they say, these new lines of developments will make a few persons rich, many successful and will keep thousands of others out of the relief bureaux. ‘‘The crewless radio station and weather bureau is just one of the many new applications of radio that are being probed today by inventors,” said Mr G. J. Irwin, chief technical engineer for a big radio corporation. “New applications of radio are coming out of the laboratories almost daily—opening new positions for radio specialists.”

He described other new developments and possibilities in the radio field, like the geophysical radio now being used to detect the presence of minerals and oil, and the possible scope of radio beams in the aviation field. The geophysical radio is science' , s replacement of the mysterious divining rods of yesteryear. It is being used to discover mineral deposits in Canada. Along the north shore of Lake Superior it has been used in the search for iron ore and in British Columbia to discover, gold. Does this open positions for radiogeologists? "Perhaps it does,” said Mr Irwin. “The prospector carries a sending and receiving apparatus. A high frequency wave is shot into the ground —it will go down almost 1000 feet—and if it hits mineral, it is reflected back to the receiving set. By noting the length of time it takes the wave to come back, the geologist can tell how far the mineral is below the surface.” Aviation has opened up new paths for the radio technicians, too. Realizing that a pilot “flying a radio beam” has little chance of wandering oS his

course, commercial aviation companies plan using radio beams on their flights. “There have been great improvements in the radio beam in the last year,” a radio engineer pointed out. “For instance, the beam sender is now located in the centre of the airfield. These new developments mean that men with a thorough knowledge of radio beams, as applied to aviation will be in demand.” Electric Eye and Ear “What are some of the possibilities of radio that will open new careers?” I asked. “Germany is experimenting with the transmission of electric power on direct current and then using giant radio tubes to transform the power into alternating current which we use in our homes,” he replied. “Who knows but what electric power may eventually be transmitted by radio? “Radio arid radio waves will play a major role in the next war, too. Military technicians are experimenting

with radio-controlled machines of war. Trained men will be needed to control these pilotless planes and boats.” Let’s turn to the "electric eye.” Imagine this scene in any home. A house in darkness, occupants asleep, a wisp of smoke curling up from a short circuit. In a few minutes the house may be a raging inferno, snuffing out lives. But scientists have forced the smoke to give its own warning—they have developed the “electric eye” which detects the smoke and sets off an alarm.

“The ‘electric eye,’ which we call the photo-electric relay, is being used in increasing numbers every day,” declares Mr A. G. Turnbull, a member of the research staff in a big electric firm. “It has great possibilities; there are thousands of ways it could be used—and that means that a field will be open to men with an intimate knowledge of the ‘electric eye’ and its potentialities.” The same engineer described another field that science has opened for careers—rural electrification. The tech-

nicians are making great strides in this field today, opening the possibility of this scene taking place on a farm in the near future.

Four days without rain is causing Farmer Brown to worry a little. In one of his barns there is a valuable perishable crop; in the well behind the house, the water has become tepid from the heat. What does the farmer do about the problem? If he has joined the field of rural electrification, he turns two switches—one regulating his refrigerated bam, the other controlling his electric pump, which cools in summer and heats ih winter. Refrigerated Barns “With the electric lines running to new districts and bringing current to many farms, refrigerated bams for storing perishable crops will become a reality in the next few years,” a hydroengineer explained. “Electric hot beds, adjustable to the temperature needs of plants, will become commonplace to the farmer. Electric traps may be used to reduce the mortality ,of crops. The study of rural electrification is a promising career.”

And as electricity opens a new career, scientists are probing the possibilities of magnesium. White-gowned men study its alloys. They find that it is lighter than aluminum, that it may be adapted to many uses—that the new scope of magnesium actually offers a career in itself.

The chief metallurgist at the Ontario Research Foundation—Mr O. W. Ellis—revealed the ramifications of magnesium. “The aeroplane of tomorrow may be largely constructed from magnesium,” he said. “They are already using it in small parts. From the laboratory, manufacturers have taken the scientists’ developments in magnesium and put them to every conceivable use. It has been used for camera parts, in textile machinery, for field glasses, for artificial legs—and even golf club heads. A promising career awaits the man who has a wide knowledge of magnesium.”

In England, Mr Ellis recalled, a successful series of experiments have just been concluded with magnesium silver alloys—another field has been opened. “If magnesium has such possibilities, where will the supply come from?” he was asked.

“A firm in the United States—the biggest producers of magnesium in the world—have recovered magnesium from the brine of wells,” Mr Ellis explained. “That opens the possibility of the recovery of magnesium from the sea, and a career for the men who can adapt themselves to the work.”

Science offers television as another road to success. Who can tell what year the following scene may take place? A telephone rings. “This is the butcher store, Mrs Jones. Would you like to place your order for tomorrow? Cheese? Certainly, how does this piece look? Would you like to see another brand? Let me show ybu some of our fresh fruits . . “Seeing By Telephone” Seeing over the telephone certainly sounds fantastic, but it is possible. In quiet laboratories, scientists are working toward the perfect television telephone—and making great* strides. Television of tomorrow and the career that it presents were described by a radio technician.

“Television of the point-to-point type has already been tried in Germany, where persons can see the party they are talking to on the telephone,” he said. “Television is in its infancy, opening a great field for highly-trained technical men.”

“Roof-hopping” aeroplanes are another way to success. Many believe that the day is not so distant when the autogyro, the heliocopter and the vertaplane, will be as popular as motorcars.

“Scientists are striving to discdVer a cheap method of manufacturing. these types of aeroplanes,” said an airport manager. “When they do, it means that the roof-hopping aeroplanes will be used extensively and that there will be ■a demand for men who have a knowledge of these types of craft.” Aviation experts agree that the “roofhopping” will never supplant the pres-ent-day aeroplane, but that they will be used as commuters between the home and the commercial airport.

“German scientists constructed a car from plastics,” Mr W. A. Campbell, chemical engineer with a plastic corporation, told me. “Its construction opened a new career for men with a knowledge of plastics.” Rumours persist that Russian scientists are using plastics—new substances competing with light metals and woods —in connection with aeroplanes. Synthetics are closely linked with plastics and offer a new field for enterprise. Professor J. W. Bain, head bf the chemical engineering department of the University of Toronto, is the authority for that statement. “Synthetics have opened an entirely new field in industrial chemistry,” he says. “We have graduates entering new positions unimagined three years ago. For example, artifical silk, synthetic rubber, synthetic oil, synthetic vitamins—all these offer new careers for trained men.” New uses for infra-red and ultraviolet rays demand men who _ have studied this field . . . the smashing of atoms is being studied . . . Tungsten plating and metallurgy, the deriving of gold from the sea, the harnessing of solar energy . . . these are some of the things that scientists and technicians are working on. They, too, will open new careers for men and women with imaginative minds.