摘要:

The drawn out, inconclusive, and fruitless debates and controversies on the distinction, if any, between the so‐called “basic” and “applied” research, hopefully forgotten by scientists, seem to reappear as a horrible specter whenever the use of the almighty dollar for research has to be decided by laymen. Among scientists the problem is usually dragged out towards the end of a prolonged bull session when other more obvious ways of entertainment and gossip have been exhausted. And then with a big sigh “Notthatagain!” everyone staggers away.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067537

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

摘要:

In the twenty–year period since the founding of the American Institute of Physics, nuclear physics has been advancing perhaps as rapidly as any other branch of our science. Twenty years ago the neutron had not yet been discovered, and a favored hypothesis as to the structure of the atomic nucleus was that it consisted of protons and electrons. This very fact may give some idea of the exponential rate of our progress.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067538

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

摘要:

Few echoes of the controversy over the nature of science will be found in this article. An earlier generation agonized over the question: “Does scientific inquiry tell us anything about values and moral obligations?” and reached a very skeptical conclusion. Fifteen years ago studies of the language and logic of science appeared to many scientists and philosophers to have settled the question: you could not logically leap from assertions about what is and what is possible to assertions about what ought to be. Then came war and the Manhattan project, and many who had accepted the divorce of science and ethics were frightened into reconsidering the matter. If science had nothing to say about values and duties, so much the worse for science. There ought to be a connection between science and ethics. Whatever the semantic difficulties, something needed to be done to prevent a suicidal use of scientific knowledge. Since 1945 there have been many conferences, many symposia, reconsidering the relation of fact to value, the relation of science to ethics. Despite the ingenuity of these discussions, I find them, on the whole, inconclusive and disappointing.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067509

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

摘要:

India, as is well known, has a notable record in the A field of physics, the more remarkable in view of the differences between her cultural background and that of occidental countries. The major achievements in this record were made in the era preceding India's recently won independence. The people of India, having struggled so long for this independence, are making a determined effort to bring their country abreast those of other free peoples of the world. In this effort every phase of modern progress has come in for consideration. The impressions gained by an American physicist during several months in the spring and summer of 1951, while a Fulbright research scholar, may therefore be of interest to some of the readers ofPhysics Today. In presenting this discussion I should point out that I did not visit all the laboratories of this vast country, even though this statement might seem unnecessary to those familiar with India. Also this was my first visit so that I can make no firsthand comparisons with earlier conditions. My host institution was the Muslim University at Aligarh. During the six months spent in the country I visited the universities and research institutes located in Allahabad, Agra, Benares, Bombay, Delhi, Lucknow, and Madras. I also visited the University of Ceylon at Colombo and for about two months was in that part of the Himalayas situated in the province of Kashmir.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067510

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067511

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067513

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067514

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067515

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

摘要:

One of several sub‐themes that have been considered from time to time in these Washington Reports is the support of basic research by agencies of the Department of Defense. Previous articles of this nature appearing inPhysics Todayhave described the work of one particular Navy office (September, 1951) and of a major Navy contractor (February, 1952). The present discussion, which extends the story to another branch of the Armed Services, concerns the Army's Office of Ordnance Research (OOR). Let me first state very briefly the “what, why, where, and when” of OOR and then take up in greater detail the thinking behind its organization and the nature of its program. The Office of Ordnance Research is established under the command of the Chief of Ordnance, U.S. Army, to have responsibility for instituting and administering contracts for basic research in fields of Ordnance interest. It is located on the campus of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and officially began operation during June 1951. The Commanding Officer of OOR is Colonel Walker W. Holler and its Chief Scientist is Dr. T. J. Killian, until recently Deputy Assistant Chief for Research, Office of Naval Research.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067516

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP

摘要:

It may seem astonishing that after radioactive substances have been known for over half a century there should still remain important unsolved problems in the domain of natural radioactivity. This field was the first of the great subdivisions of nuclear physics to be explored, and yet much remains to be done here. The reason for this situation becomes evident when we recall that radium is expensive, and that until comparatively recently radioactive substances were not available in any large amounts. The second contributing factor is the great improvement in recent years in instrumentation, an improvement which has rendered many of the classical techniques obsolete.

ISSN:0031-9228    

DOI:10.1063/1.3067517

出版商:AIP    

年代:1952

数据来源: AIP