PROFESSOR DRINKS “HEAVY WATER”

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1935, Page 12

PROFESSOR DRINKS “HEAVY WATER”

Risky Experiment In Cause Of Science NONE THE WO’RSE AFTER HIS COSTLY DRAUGHT 'THE first man to drink “heavy x water” —the recently discovered fluid which it has been suggested might be poisonous—/stood at ' the microphone in a broadcasting studio in Oslo and described his .experience, only a few hours after drinking 10 grammes of the liquid.

Professor Klaus Hansen is the young scientist who took the risk of pouring this strange liquid down his throat. The experiment took place in a laboratory at Oslo University before several fellow-scientists. With one of his assistants he bought two litres — about £lOOO worth—of the liquid. He said that it had a slight taste reminiscent . of “laughing-gas.” Four doctors, equipped with emergency stood by and conducted. a thorough examination of Professor Hansen every half hour for some hours after the experiment. Stimulant injections and a stomach pump were in readiness in case his condition caused anxiety. Actually his condition showed no change. ' Within a few minutes, of drinking the fluid he was laughing and talking to his colleagues in the laboratory as if he had just taker! a cocktail. As heavy water produced commercially on a small scale would cost at least £2 a gramme, Professor Hansen’s drink was worth £2o—one of the most costly drinks a man ever had. A friend of Professor Hansen who spoke to him shortly after thO experiment said that apart from a slight feeling of “scientific excitement” just after drinking the liquid, the professor felt completely normal.