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JOURNAL

of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY

of

SCIENCES

Vol. 53 • No. 1

JANUARY 1963

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JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Editor: Samuel B. Detwiler, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Associate

Frank L. Campbell, National Academy of

Sciences

Harold T. Cook, Department of Agriculture

Richard P. Farrow, National Canners Asso-

ciation

Editors

Russell B. Stevens, George Washington

University

John K. Taylor, National Bureau of Standards

Lawrence A. Wood, National Bureau of

Standards

Contributors

Albert M. Stone, Applied Physics Laboratory

John A. O’Brien, Jr., Catholic University

Charles A. Whitten, Coast & Geodetic Survey

Margaret D. Foster, Geological Survey

Russell B. Stevens, George Washington

University

Joseph B. Morris, Howard University

Frank L. Campbell, NAS-NRC

Gerhard M. Brauer, National Bureau of

Standards

Howard W. Bond, National Institutes of Health

Ileen E. Stewart, National Science Foundation

Allen L. Alexander, Naval Research Laboratory

Victor R. Boswell, USDA, Beltsville

Harold T. Cook, USDA, Washington

William J. Bailey, University of Maryland

This Journal, the official organ of the Washington Academy of Sciences, publishes historical

articles, critical reviews, and scholarly scientific articles; notices of meetings and abstract proceed-

ings of meetings of the Academy and its affiliated societies; and regional news items, including

personal news, of interest to the entire membership. The Journal appears nine times a year, in

January to May and September to December.

Subscription rate: $7.50 per year (U.S.) or $1.00 per copy; foreign postage extra. Subscrip-

tion orders should be sent to the Washington Academy of Sciences, 1530 P St., N.W., Washington,

D.C. Remittances should be made payable to “Washington Academy of Sciences.”

Back issues of the Journal and Proceedings of the Academy have been taken in charge by the

Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York City, which will handle sales on a commission basis.

This firm expects to be set up early in 1963 for the direct handling of orders for back numbers.

Meanwhile, requests for back numbers should continue to be addressed to the Academy Office at

1530 P St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Claims for missing numbers will not be allowed if received more than 60 days after date of

mailing plus time normally required for postal delivery and claim. No claims will be allowed

because of failure to notify the Academy of a change of address.

Changes of address should be sent promptly to the Academy Office, 1530 P St., N.W.,

Washington, D.C. Such notification should include both old and new addresses and postal zone

number, if any.

OFFICERS OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

President: Benjamin D. Van Evera, George Washington University

President-Elect:

Secretary: George W. Irving, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Treasurer: Malcolm C. Henderson, Catholic University

Lore Alford Rogers,

Pioneer Dairy Scientist

Donald H. Williams

Dairy Industries Supply Association , W ashington

As a prominent scientist in the Depart-

ment of Agriculture from 1902 to 1942,

Lore A. Rogers has many friends in the

Washington area who remember him

warmly. A bright star on USDA’s scien-

tific horizon before World War II, Dr.

Rogers for the past two decades has been

living in Maine, in productive and stimulat-

ing retirement. Son of a Maine lumber

operator who was prominent in the Penob-

scot country, he was educated at the Univer-

sity of Maine, and shortly after the turn

of the century came to the Department as

a bacteriologist and “dairy expert,” as men

of his training were then called.

For the young discipline of dairy science

in the early 1900’s, Dr. Rogers was born

at the right time. There were a myriad of

dairy product problems that needed to be

approached by fundamental investigation.

The great State extension organizations

of today were in their infancy, and the

State experiment stations were rather small

and inadequate, particularly with respect

to dairy research. Industry looked to USDA

for help, and dairy science as an organized

research discipline took shape in the De-

partment with Dr. Rogers, later a name

to conjure with, as its leader.

Over the years Dr. Rogers assembled a

research staff in dairy science, as a divi-

sion within the old Bureau of Animal

Industry, which came to be recognized

internationally. Later, the Dairy Division

achieved status of its own as the Bureau

of Dairy Industry, and it was here that

Dr. Rogers became chief of the Dairy Re-

search Laboratories, a unit which embraced

investigations of dairy products, nutrition,

and technology. The product investiga-

tions involved problems on butter, con-

centrated milk, ice cream, and other dairy

products. Vast contributions to the litera-

ture of dairy science took place under Dr.

Rogers’ leadership, as he encouraged

academic freedom among his staff in pur-

suing lines of research into the fundamental

bacteriology, chemistry, and technology of

dairy processes.

As stated in a recent tribute to him,

“alone or jointly he authored almost 100

scientific publications in the field of orig-

inal research.” By training he was a bac-

teriologist, and one of his earliest papers

disclosed the causative factors in the flavor

deterioration of butter. Again from the

same citation,

January, 1963

1

”He showed conclusively that butter made from

pasteurized sweet cream had better and more uni-

form initial flavor, and much better keeping qual-

ity, than butter made from raw ripened cream.

This discovery made almost 60 years ago, revolu-

tionized the theory and practice of butter making,

and resulted in a tremendous increase in monetary

return to the industry.”

It would be futile to attempt a definitive

accounting of his professional years, so

productive was his searching genius. For

40 years Dr. Rogers exerted scientific

leadership of a research group whose ac-

complishments became milestones in the

history of dairy science. Never before had

another such group provided the fruits of

original investigation and discovery in the

field of dairy science. These years saw the

advent of sweet cream butter, uniform-

quality cheddar cheese, and fundamental

studies of the physical chemistry of ice

cream. Only now is industry beginning to

appreciate fully the significance of the

measurements made on the complex

physico-chemical system in ice cream,

carried out under Dr. Rogers’ direction.

Among Dr. Rogers’ contributions to bac-

teriology were studies of the factors con-

trolling growth and multiplication of bac-

teria, the fermentative production of lactic

acid, the use of pure cultures in the manu-

facture of swiss and cheddar cheese from

pasteurized milk, and the development of

one of the first processes for curing and

marketing consumer-sized packages of

cheddar cheese. Dr. Rogers was one of

the American bacteriologists to develop

very early the preservation of bacterial

cultures by dehydration and freezing, a

technique which led to his interest in the

American Type Culture Collection, and

which made the work of this invaluable

institution possible; but more on this later.

In the later years of his USDA career,

Dr. Rogers’ staff examined the possibilities

of effective commercial utilization of milk

byproducts. At the time, industrial utiliza-

tion of milk appeared to hold some hope

for improving the dairy farmers’ income.

This period witnessed the development of

casein production methods, lactic acid

resins for can coatings, casein plastics and

fibers, the extraction of solubilized milk

proteins, and alcohol from fermentation

of cheese whey, to name only a few of

the efforts that he fathered or influenced

in the area of chemurgy.

Recognition came duly to Dr. Rogers.

He received a Doctor of Science degree

from the University of Maryland in 1923,

and a second one from his alma mater in

1925. In 1928 his colleagues published a

book in his honor. It was entitled, “Funda-

mentals of Dairy Science,” and the desig-

nated authorship was simply, “Associates

of Lore A. Rogers.” This book, revised in

1935, became the classic reference in the

field for at least 25 years, and is a lasting

panegyric to the stature that Dr. Rogers

achieved. Long out of print, it is currently

undergoing another major revision, under-

taken and supervised by dairy scientists

in many places, some now approaching

retirement, who as young Ph.D. graduates

were employed by Dr. Rogers many years

age. He has always had special pride in

the young men who got their start with

him and went on to distinguish themselves

elsewhere.

Dr. Rogers was president of the Society

of American Bacteriologists in 1923. He

was a member of the American Public

Health Association, the American Dairy

Science Association, the Washington Acad-

emy of Medicine, and the Washington

Academy of Sciences. He was an official

delegate to the world dairy congresses held

in Stockholm in 1911. in Washington in

1923, in London in 1928, and in Rome in

1934. He has been a member of the Cosmos

Club since 1924.

Dr. Rogers has received almost every

high honor awarded by the American

Dairy Science Association. He was the

first recipient of the highly coveted Borden

Award (a gold medal and $1,000) in

1937, and has witnessed the granting of

numerous subsequent Borden Awards to

his one-time subordinates from the Dairy

Research Laboratories. In 1951 Dr. Rogers

was elected an honorary member of the

2

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Association; and only last summer he was

selected, again from his retirement, to re-

ceive the Association’s Distinguished Serv-

ice Award, inaugurated only the preceding

year. The citation, portions of which were

quoted earlier herein, is a moving reminder

of the mark left by this pioneer dairy sci-

entist. Last August, at the age of 87, Dr.

Rogers went to the University of Maine

(where the Association meeting was being

held at the time, and where Rogers Hall

for many years has testified to his living

memory) to receive this outstanding award.

As this scientist, for so many years wide-

ly acclaimed, approached the podium to

receive his honor, the Association in body

assembled rose and stood in close attention

while this modest man, in conversational,

intimate tones, eschewed much of the credit

for the signal tribute, asserting that time

had placed him, youthful, in a virgin field

and that he had had available to him an

exceptional staff. His highest service, he

averred, was to have assembled and left

behind his productive research team.

One contribution to science made by

Dr. Rogers, though scarcely known, is of

inestimable value. He, almost alone, and

more than once, salvaged the important

American Type Culture Collection from

discontinuance in the early 20’s and later.

This foundation has been custodian of

valuable bacterial cultures which have sup-

plied research and industry needs far and

wide. Desiccated cultures are distributed

by the Collection. Housed as a stepchild,

virtually in garrets and basements, from

about 1923 until the time of the last war,

it faced numerous survival crises before it

was ultimately incorporated as a non-profit

organization, with Dr. Rogers as chairman

of the Board. The Collection was finally

housed in its present permanent home at

New Hampshire Avenue and M Street

N.W., in Washington.

Dr. Rogers retired from the Department

of Agriculture 20 years ago and returned

to his native heath in Patten, Me., where

he still lives. Thus his professional years

ended. For a time he operated a small

dairy business in Patten, to do so literally

carving out of potato country (the nearby

Aroostook) a miniscule milk shed where

milk was never before widely produced

and shipped commercially. He brought a

new industry to a locale traditionally

wedded to the single, speculative potato

crop. Milk provided the farmer with a

steadying balance wheel of revenue, a fact

in which Dr. Rogers may take justifiable

pride. In this enterprise, with character-

istic improvisation he built for himself a

small quality control laboratory for testing

milk supplies and processed products; he

could be observed there, pleasurably ap-

plying the time-honored laboratory tech-

niques for standard plate count and the

methylene blue test. He even attempted to

instrument the latter to obtain less empiri-

cal, and more uniform, analytical perform-

ance. As the burden of other long-delayed

projects and hobbies came to claim rr^re

and more of his time, Dr. Rogers, after

some years, withdrew from the local dairy

business, and was at last truly “retired.”

Here begins the remarkable account of

his retirement years, in some ways incred-

ible for its breadth and vigor and cer-

tainly an inspiration for others. Returning

to Maine was for Dr. Rogers the beginning

of a second career — the stimulating harvest

years. Mrs. Rogers completely shares the

enthusiasm and understanding for his cur-

rent projects, and provides inspiring rap-

port for their dedicated ventures.

For perhaps 40 years or more Dr. Rogers

had spent summer vacations at his wood-

land camp at Shin Pond, about 10 miles

from Patten village. He still spends the

pleasant months of the year there. Despite

its relative proximity to the village, his

weathered shore cabin under a hill makes

for a remoteness conducive to contempla-

tive living. One should really say “con-

templative recreation,” after Isaac Walton,

for Dr. Rogers is an ardent fisherman

seeking out the elusive trout in wild and

undisturbed places.

His camp is accessible only by boat,

being at the far end of the Pond and away

January, 1963

3

from all roads and trails. For many years

he favored a logging bateau for his neces-

sary commuting to a secluded parking

place at the opposite end of the Pond,

where a road is near. His was a familiar

profile coming down the Pond at dusk,

bent over an outboard motor rigged to the

side of the bateau, which had pointed bow

and stern — thus denying conventional

motor mounting. The peculiar lines of a

loaded bateau make the bow ride high,

with much of the hull seemingly out of

the water, as the heavy craft labors under

way. It made a bizarre silhouette.

Extremely seaworthy, reliable, and of a

deceptively commodious load capacity ( his

was approximately 26 feet long) , the bateau

is not noted for great comfort. Passengers

sit on the “floor” or bottom of the boat,

in a position not favored by ladies. In

later years, out of deference to Mrs. Rogers

and not-infrequent camp guests. Dr.

Rogers condescended to buy a conventional

aluminum boat with a square stern; a

“wash tub,” he called it, without the

legendary beauty of the bateau lines. The

new boat is lighter and more manageable

for joints and muscles not as lithe and

limber as formerly, and both he and Mrs.

Rogers manage it handily.

The old bateau, which he made out of

a single huge pine tree, is now pulled up

on the shore where it seems to fit the scene

as always. Only rarely now is it pressed

into service, perhaps to convey a stranded

grandson across to the road shore.

Dr. Rogers’ father, Luther B. Rogers,

operated logging camps in the northern

Maine wilderness in days when the logging

industry was considerably more primitive

than today. Some of his son’s youth was

spent in these camps, where he occupied

various roles in the lumbering organization.

Dr. Rogers’ account of those days is a

fascinating story, and the hours spent with

him, hearing about the wild driving

streams, the winter camps, and the drive

itself, are unforgettable. These are the

scenes closest to his heart, and a wistful

nostalgia pervades the reminiscences of

obliterated tote roads, ancient “burns,”

forest fires, skeletons of old dams, and

those strange grassy clearings in the remote

wilderness where once stood productive

hay farms to supply the logging teams of

horses and oxen. His memory of these

events is clear and dramatic, and he holds

one as if in a spell, as he tells of those days

of long ago when 40-foot logs — and bateaus

nearly as long — came down streams that

appear today hardly capable of wetting

one’s feet.

At his camp in the evening it is not

uncommon to find him working on his

notes and papers by the sometimes failing

light of a propane burner. These are

precious hours to share with this man —

those sensitive moments by his hearthside

when the unhurried pace at the end of day

sets the scene for a poetic recall of another

day and tempo.

And lucky you are if you are there

when he pokes the hot coals off a buried

iron bean pot fetched forth from the

obscure recesses of his blackened fireplace.

More generous with the molasses than are

ordinary recipes, his formulas — he does

not take baking beans lightly; this is a

solemn ceremony — involve the artful com-

bination of seasoning, salt pork, molasses,

and careful “par” boiling.

His is not solely the role of raconteur,

however, but also that of historian; and

his crowded hours are divided now between

writing the history of the logging era he

knows so well, and another project to be

described later. This history is important

Americana and an essential chronicling of

the Maine scene, for lumber was vital to

Maine’s early economic growth, and de-

serves a place in the annals of the State.

We may steal a glimpse of this epic

story from his largely-unpublished manu-

script as he describes the woods crew.

(Two chapters of his work have been pub-

lished periodically in Down East magazine

for March and May 1962. respectively.)

“The life and work of these men in the forest

bears little resemblance to that of the roistering,

drinking, fighting toughs who usually are pic-

4

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

tured swarming into Bangor at the end of a

winter. Their occupation was one of adventure

and disaster. They were exposed to driving rains,

freezing cold, and blinding snowstorms; knew the

fear and panic of men lost in the wilderness; and

were familiar with violent death from falling

trees and rushing water. Most of all it was a

routine of hard, grinding toil, while fighting the

elements in a rough, hostile country — a struggle

which developed a hardy, independent race, cal-

loused to discomfort and hardships, and entirely

unaware that they might be looked upon as in

any way heroic. It is small wonder that when

they got out of the woods into ‘civilization’ they

kicked over the traces and celebrated in the only

way they knew.”

In a particularly descriptive section on

“jam-breaking,” Dr. Rogers writes:

“The common conception of men running about

looking for the ‘key log’ unduly simplifies the

situation. Before any such key log could be

found and loosened, rapidly increasing water

pressure and more logs wedged the foremost ones

so firmly that no single log could be said to be

holding the jam. The men loosened all the logs

that they could move on the front of the jam,

working fast and methodically to pick, roll and

pry a channel back into the tangled logs. Sud-

denly, the jam ‘hauled.’ The whole mass began

to move. The men ran and leaped over the roll-

ing, tumbling logs, heading for shore. The more

experienced ones, once they reached land, kept

right on going to get out of the way of the men

racing behind them. Sometimes a man did not

make it to land — and on the shore there would

be another mound, marked by a crude wooden

cross, or simply a name and a date cut on a

tree.”

One rich experience shared with Dr.

Rogers is a trip to his favorite fishing

places — usually some remote and elevated

mountain tarn, where the water is clearest

of clear and the wily Salvelinus lurks. The

Fowler Ponds are like this, near the north

end of the Traveler, that ubiquitous moun-

tain that seems to move with you down the

East Branch. The trout from the Fowler

Ponds are unusually pink-fleshed when

cooked; and no doubt Dr. Rogers has long

considered that environmental subtlety con-

tributing to this.

For some reason, fishing with Dr. Rogers

is never very convenient. If trout were

jumping all over his Shin Pond dock, it

is believed that Dr. Rogers would still hie

himself to an out-of-the-way area where

the thrill of more primitive surroundings

aids the appetite, if not always the catch,

though a bountiful creel is generally the

result.

It may be a two- or three-mile climb from

the nearest road to these ponds, and there

impediment is divested and a one-man life

“raft” is inflated and launched. Dr. Rogers

sort of rolls into the craft — and out of it—

from the shore, since one cannot stand in

such a rig. When enough fish are caught

for lunch, Piscator unlimbers a kit of

homemade nested aluminum mess gear and

the trout becomes an emotional as well as

gustatory experience.

A particularly interesting project of Dr.

Rogers is his joint effort with a few local

friends to re-introduce the woodland cari-

bou to the slopes of Mt. Katahdin, where

the animals once roamed in reasonable

abundance. Dr. Rogers tells of seeing them

when he was a boy, and cites the time in

his youth when he saw numerous bleached

caribou bones on Mt. Katahdin, where a

herd presumably was stampeded over the

edge of the alpine “tableland” — a promi-

nent feature of the mountain — probably

by irresponsible lumbermen, as much as a

hundred years ago. In those days an oc-

casional caribou would wander even into

Patten village.

The caribou project is making progress.

In conjunction with State authorities, Dr.

Rogers has been instrumental in arranging

for a small shipment of caribou from New-

foundland. Newfoundland in turn seeks to

establish the ruffed grouse, and the deal

involves so many caribou for so many

ruffed grouse chicks. Ostensibly this is a

simple exchange until one realizes the dif-

ficulty of attempting to hatch the latter

in captivity.

However, the State biologist, with Dr.

Rogers’ encouragement, is enthusiastic and

the exchange is slowly underway. Capture

of caribou calves, it is reported, is not

especially difficult and this phase of the

project is accomplished.

This is a rather remarkable undertaking.

Over-hunted to extinction in this area years

January, 1963

S

ago. the new herd will eventually find a

home in the highly protected Baxter State

Park, where ecologists say a successful

balance of natural food and population is

quite possible.

The crowning achievement of Dr. Rogers’

retirement life is the founding, within the

last three or four years, of the Lumber-

man's Museum; and of this unique effort a

more adequate account is needed than can

be given here. For some years he has col-

lected many artifacts of logging lore that

are authentic of the period and area of

which he becomes the Herodotus. These he

first mounted on a display panel and ex-

hibited in a vacant store in Patten village.

Later, as the collection grew, other displays

were added, and what had been only the

germ of an idea became a museum in

reality. At this point the collection was

housed in the back room of the town li-

brary, the building where Mrs. Rogers

holds forth in the front room as librarian.

As the collection grew, so did its import-

ance, and finally the improvised space be-

came inadequate. Dr. Rogers learned of a

vacant log cabin on nearby Mt. Chase, an

authentic old structure with dovetailed log

corners. Somehow he arranged for its dis-

mantling and removal to a vacant lot in the

village, where it was erected as the new

home for the Lumberman’s Museum; this

is now a corporate entity with some

promise, occasionally tenuous, of financial

support and, more important, of perpetuity.

There is strong suspicion that Dr. Rogers

has liberally augmented his begging and

borrowing with his own resources. All

contributions, both physical and financial,

have been welcome. What has resulted is

a dream fulfilled for this native son —

indeed, a monument to the herculean labor

and Yankee ingenuity that went into lum-

ber production 50 to 100 years ago in the

State of Maine. It is serious documenta-

tion of a historic part of the American

scene.

The physical exhibits include every sort

of tool found in a logging camp and saw

mill, from a pod auger to — no, not the

chain saw, which would never be permitted

— but to the “cant dog” or peavey, which

is shown by several examples as it evolved

from the crude pick pole and swinging

hook to the present-day right arm of the

logger.

In addition, there are operating-scale

dioramas of a saw mill, a saw' pit, and

cutaway scale logging camps (all of these,

down to the finest detail, he built himself) ;

a full -size woods forge with bellows, mill 1

wright tools, cooking gear, and topographic

maps locating the ancient tote roads and

driving waters of the period.

The Museum building is panelled inside

with native woods of the region. Externally

it is the same log structure that once stood

lonely vigil on the slopes of Mt. Chase.

Down the road perhaps a half-mile is the

arboretum planted by Dr. Rogers in mem-

ory of his mother, Mary Rogers. It is

well established, with specimens of all

Maine trees of economic value, and other

specimens, growing well. Of course, this

project was not built overnight. It long

preceded the Museum; Dr. Rogers made

the plantings himself, sometimes transplant-

ing the less common species many miles

from the deep woods. The arboretum of

itself has substantial educational value.

Visiting the Museum provides nostalgic

retrospect for a different age, a different

gage of man, and a way of life lost to the

newer generations except as Dr. Rogers’

writings and the Museum collections mirror

it. The modern logger frequently gets home

to supper and jostles to work in the morn-

ing on a noxious dual-wheeled behemoth

over bulldozed scars in the forest that never

heal — a far cry from, the woodsman of

yesteryear who walked into camp in the

fall and didn’t come out of the woods until

the spring drive landed him at the terminal

booms down river many miles. Today logs

are driven no more. The bull dozer, diesel

truck, and chain saw are emblematic of

modern logging, still the living industry of

that section of the State.

Dr. Rogers is keen to preserve a record

of the way it used to be done. He has

6

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

given to his village and State a museum, a

book-in-process, and an arboretum. These

will remain for Patten schoolboys to see,

and for those transient outsiders whose

curiosity for the region is piqued by some-

thing the State of Maine enthusiast is

never really able to identify — or conquer —

an outstanding collection of important his-

toric antiquities.

Enough has been said now of Lore

Rogers to show his former associates what

has been done with an abundant life; for

this is no man living a life of quiet despera-

tion, but more the role of Chanticleer, as

Thoreau would put it, trying to “wake my

neighbors up.”

It is gratifying to know that he has

accomplished his goals, certainly in prin-

ciple, for he would be the first to acknowl-

edge that a Museum is never completed

in the definitive sense.

As curator, he welcomes one and all to

his new and rustic headquarters. Although

Patten is 900 miles from Washington, visi-

tors from the area do get up to see him

and are rewarded with an indelible experi-

ence. Only infrequently in our daily lives

do we come across such a person.

Joint Board on Science Education

Summary Report for 1962

John K. Taylor *

National Bureau of Standards

Introduction

The year 1962 has been most active and

successful for the Joint Board on Science

Education. Literally hundreds of local

scientists have participated in various

phases of its program, which has reached

thousands of students and teachers in the

greater Washington area. The following

summary illustrates the scope of the pro-

gram.

Accomplishments

Secondary School Contacts Committee.

An engineer or scientist was appointed to

serve as liaison or contact with each of

232 secondary schools in the greater Wash-

ington area. A 60-page directory, listing

the address of each school and the name

and address of the contact person, was

printed and distributed to schools and to

persons interested in science education. The

* Chairman of the Academy’s Committee on

Science Education; vice-chairman of the Joint

Board on Science Education and director of

science projects; and editor of The Reporter.

directory also includes information on other

activities of the Joint Board, including com-

mittee personnel, science fair schedules,

and a list of laboratories offering field trip

opportunities.

The Reporter. This newsletter, now in its

fifth year of publication, is issued monthly

during the school year. It presents infor-

mation about events of interest to teachers,

announces meetings, publicizes awards and

other recognitions, reviews new books, and

carries feature articles related to science

and mathematics teaching. It is sent free

of charge to all local science and mathe-

matics teachers and to others interested in

science education. The present circulation

is 2900.

Frontiers of Science Lectures. Lectures

designed for high school students and

teachers, featuring recent advances in

science, have been sponsored during the

past several years. The current series has

been planned for the spring and will be

announced soon.

January, 1963

Research Participation. In cooperation

\>ith the Washington Academy of Sciences,

the Junior Academy, and the Chemical

Society of Washington, the Joint Board

sponsored a program designed to intro-

duce high-ability high school students to

scientific research. Forty-five students were

given the modest stipend of $10 per week

to meet expenses. They were assigned to

work in local research laboratories on

active scientific investigation. A grant has

been received from the National Science

Foundation to continue this activity during

the coming summer.

Teacher Awards. As a feature of Engi-

neers. Scientists and Architects Day, the

Board annually recognizes teachers of the

local area. During 1962, 12 teachers were

presented Distinguished Teacher Awards,

consisting of certificates and inscribed

copies of a technical encyclopedia. In addi-

tion. 48 others were presented citations for

outstanding competence. All were guests

of the Joint Board at the ES&A Day lunch-

eon, where the presentations were made.

This is a continuing activity.

Project Book. In order to stimulate in-

terest in science projects, the Board in

1960 published a book, “Project Ideas for

Young Scientists.” This book containing

brief suggestions for projects involving

scientific investigation, together with refer-

ences to further information, sold 4000

copies both locally and nationally in the

first edition. A major revision and en-

largement has been completed, so that the

new book contains some 600 ideas in all

fields of science. Chapters with projects in

engineering and pharmaceutical sciences

are new features. It is available at cost to

students and teachers, both locally and

elsewhere, at $1.25 per copy, from the

Joint Board Office, 1530 P Street, N.W.

Washington 5, D.C.

Science Fairs. Posters, entry blanks, and

related materials were furnished to five area

fairs. Transportation was provided to ten

students and six adult sponsors to the Na-

tional Science Fair in Seattle last May; the

Board paid all expenses connected with

the trip of six students and one adult.

The cooperation of the Northern Virginia

Beal Estate Board in financing the costs

of representatives from the Virginia schools,

and the financial assistance of the Prince

Georges Science Fair Association and the

Montgomery County Board of Education,

are appreciated. As a result of participation

in the National Science Fair, one first place,

one second place, one third place, five fourth

place, and six special awards were received

by area contestants.

Committee on Women in Science. In an

effort to encourage a larger number of girls

in our secondary schools to investigate and

weigh the possibilities of engineering,

science, or mathematics as a career, a

number of leading women scientists and

engineers of this area have formed a com-

mittee to determine the best possible

methods to encourage these students. The

Joint Board is giving nominal financial

support to this work, and also is offering

advisory service to the committee.

NSF Program. Under grants from the

National Science Foundation to the Wash-

ington Academy of Sciences, a series of

special projects is being administered b\

the Joint Board. These programs are as

follows: (1) A visiting lecturer, science

project advisor, career day participation,

and substitute teacher program through

establishment of a visiting scientist roster:

(2) conferences on problems related to

science and mathematics teaching; (3)

support of the publication and distribu-

tion of The Reporter ; and (4) major sup-

port of the Research Participation program.

The grants for this work total $24,000.

Further information on these programs

may be obtained from the office of the

Joint Board at 1530 P St., N.W.. Washing-

ton 5, D. C.; telephone NOrth 7-3661.

Financial Support

The accomplishments of the Joint Board

result from the volunteer efforts of a large

number of individuals. Expenditures are

maintained at a minimum. Financial sup-

port, except for specific projects carried

out under National Science Foundation

8

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

grants, is derived from contributions of a

number of technical societies and industrial

or business organizations, who realize that,

because of the extensive volunteer services

supported, benefits are reflected back to

them and to the community, many times

the amount contributed.

Financial Statement

Contributions for the foregoing purposes

during the past year amounted to $5030.

Publication of The Reporter was financed

by a National Science Foundation grant.

The budget for 1962-63 has been set at a

minimum; the program could be enlarged

and its effectiveness increased, if additional

funds were available.

General Comments

The excellent spirit of cooperation be-

tween scientists and the local schools is an

achievement of which the Joint Board can

be justly proud. Teachers and administra-

tors in the schools have come to look upon

their colleagues in the scientific and engi-

neering community as coworkers, and the

high level of science education existing lo-

cally is in no small measure the result.

The Joint Board has been the inspiration

of several similar programs being formed

or already started in several parts of the

country. Accordingly, assistance given this

program, both in service and in financial

contributions, should not be considered as

an act of charity but rather as an invest-

ment in the future security of our nation.

Contributors 1961-62

Technical Societies

Acoustical Society of America, Washington Sec-

tion

American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Wash-

ington Section

American Institute of Industrial Engineers, Wash-

ington Chapter

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and

Petroleum Engineers, Washington Section

American Meteorological Society, District of

Columbia Branch

American Society of Agricultural Engineers,

Washington, D. C., Section

American Society for Metals, Washington Chapter

American Society for Microbiology, Washington

Branch

American Society of Safety Engineers, Washington

Safety Society Chapter

Anthropological Society of Washington

Association of Senior Engineers of the Bureau of

Ships

Chemical Engineers Club of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

D. C. Council of Engineering and Architectural

Societies

D. C. Society of Professional Engineers

Geological Society of Washington

The Helminthological Society of Washington

Institute of Aerospace Sciences, Washington Sec-

tion

Institute of Radio Engineers, Washington Section

Institute of Traffic Engineers, Washington Chap-

ter

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Philosophical Society of Washington

Sigma Delta Epsilon, Omicron Chapter

Society of American Foresters, Washington Sec-

tion

Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine

Society of Women Engineers, Washington Chap-

ter

Washington Academy of Sciences

Washington Junior Academy of Sciences

Washington Society of Engineers

American Welding S’ociety, Washington Chapter

Industrial and Business Organizations

ACF Industries

Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company

American Cynamid Company

ARINC Research Corporation

Analytic Services Incorporated

Asphalt Institute

Atlantic Perlite Company

Atlantic Research Corporation

Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company

Electronic Wholesalers, Inc.

Fisher Scientific Company

January, 1963

9

General Electric Company

Harris Research Laboratories, Inc.

Hazelton Laboratories, Inc.

Hydronautics, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Johns-Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Litton Systems, Inc., Maryland Division

Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company

Operations Research, Inc.

Photogrammetry, Inc.

Potomac Electric Power Company

Scope, Inc.

Stauffer Chemical Company

Technical Sales Club

Vitro Laboratories, Silver Spring Laboratory

Washington Gas Light Company

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

The Joint Board on Science Education

acknowledges with thanks the support of

the foregoing contributors during the past

year. They, and others interested in en-

couraging science talent and in strength-

ening the science programs in our local

schools, are invited to contribute to the

1962-1963 budget. Checks should be made

payable to the Joint Board on Science Edu-

cation, and mailed to Churchill Eisenhart,

treasurer, Room 402 South Building, Na-

tional Bureau of Standards, Washington

25, D. C.

THE BROWNSTONE TOWER

What scientific

organization holds

the largest meet-

ings in the United

States in terms of

the numbers of

papers presented ?

Many might guess

the American

Chemical Society,

that giant of scien-

tific societies, with a membership of about

100,000, exceeding that of the American

Association for the Advancement of Sci-

ence. Others might name the American

Medical Association, with a membership

approaching 200,000. I should think that

no one would mention the National Geo-

graphic Society — everybody’s society; with

a membership of more than 2.5 million, it

is too large to hold general meetings.

None of the foregoing guesses is right;

the record is held by an organization whose

members totaled only 7,451 as of last

October. I refer to the Federation of

American Societies for Experimental Biol-

ogy. Founded in 1912, the Federation, as

it is usually called, now’ consists of six

member societies that are oriented toward

biological research underlying medicine —

in short, the physiologists, the biochemists,

the pharmacologists, the pathologists, the

nutritionists, and the immunologists.

At its last annual meeting in the spring

of 1962, the number of registrants — 11,800

— exceeded the total membership of the

Federation; and the number of papers

presented — 2,990 — greatly exceeded the

largest number ever presented at a meeting

of the American Chemical Society, i.e.,

1,761 in the fall of 1960. However, ACS

holds two general meetings each year,

whereas the Federation holds only one.

Nevertheless, the biggest scientific meet-

ing of each year is staged by the Federa-

tion, which consequently deserves to be

better known than it is in this community

where, like ACS, it is headquartered.

Physically, the Federation is situated on

the west side of Wisconsin Avenue, on a

wooded knoll not far north of the National

Institutes of Health. Its principal building,

which had been a private residence until

the property was purchased for the Federa-

tion in 1954, cannot be seen from the high-

way. It was named Beaumont after William

Beaumont, whose work on the gastric juices

and digestion, published in 1833, is a

classic. Turning into the grounds from the

highway, one drives up a winding, beauti-

fully landscaped road until the long, two-

story, 20-room fieldstone house comes into

view. To the right of this house and at the

exposed edge of the knoll now stands a new

five-story brick office building, of Georgian

design to harmonize with the old residence.

This building was completed in 1962, and

was dedicated on October 12. It houses the

expanding activities of the Federation. Soon

a wing will be required for projected re-

search services.

10

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

So much for the impressive plant of the

Federation. Even more important to its suc-

cess is the Federation’s executive officer,

Milton 0. Lee, who has been guiding its

development since 1947, when its office was

located in three small rooms in the main

building of the National Academy of Sci-

ences-National Research Council. At that

time Dr. Lee was also editor of the publica-

tions of the American Physiological Society,

one of the member societies of the Federa-

tion, and of Federation Proceedings — re-

sponsibilities that he still holds. This ex-

plains his interest and effectiveness in bio-

logical communications, the term now being

used to cover the recording, transmission,

storage, and retrieval of information, in-

cluding publication, abstracting, indexing,

and documentation. Beyond his current pub-

lication of primary research and of indexes

and abstracts of papers to be presented at

Federation meetings (a monumental job of

rapid dissemination of information), Dr.

Lee is about to embark on special services

connected with communications: (1) a

publication service center, which will re-

duce costs of publication of participating

journals; (2) publication of conference

and symposia proceedings; (3) an infor-

mation processing center involving the use

of an electronic computer; (4) tabulation

and analysis of Ph.D. dissertations in the

basic medical sciences; (5) a study of oral

communications at scientific meetings.

Beaumont is not only the headquarters

of the Federation but also of three of its

member societies, whose executive secre-

taries have their offices in Beaumont House.

Also in Beaumont House are the business

and personnel offices of the Federation, and

the Institute for the Advancement of Med-

ical Communications. In the new office

building are the Placement Service, edi-

torial offices, and certain ancillary activities

such as the National Register of Scientific

and Technical Personnel and the Biological

Handbook Offices.

The dedication of the new office building

was a brilliant occasion, attended not only

by leading biologists but by leaders in the

physical sciences also. The number was

limited to about 50 by the small seating

capacity of the conference room., in which

luncheon was served by a caterer. As a

memento of the occasion, each person found

at his plate an inscribed copy of a hard-

covered facsimile of “Experiments and Ob-

servations on the Gastric Juice and the

Physiology of Digestion” by William Beau-

mont, M.D. The principal speaker was

Detlev W. Bronk, former president of the

National Academy of Sciences and himself

a famous physiologist. Thus the Federation

was launched on a new and larger phase of

its distinguished career of service to the

biomedical sciences — a credit to biology,

to this scientific community, and to science

in general.

— Frank L. Campbell

Merriam Offers Help

To Eclipse Viewers

Carroll F. Merriam of Prospect Harbor,

Me., a nonresident Academy member who

is serving on the technical advisory com-

mittee of the Maine Department of Eco-

nomic Development, has called attention to

the total solar eclipse that will occur on

Saturday, July 20, 1963, along a strip ex-

tending from Hokkaido to Alaska, and

across Canada and the northern part of the

United States. Dr. Merriam writes that he

lives in the path of totality of the eclipse,

and that he “would be glad to be of assist-

ance to other (Academy) members or

scientific organizations desiring informa-

tion regarding preparations for observing

this eclipse.” Those interested may address

Dr. Merriam at Prospect Harbor.

(Prospect Harbor is 9 miles EbyN of Bar

Harbor, at lat. 44° 24.6'N, long. 68° 01.6'W.

If we read our Ephemeris correctly, the town

should be blacked out at 5:45 p.m. EDT, for

59 seconds. If anyone is going up, we’d like

to consider signing on as photographer, or

timekeeper, or roving Journal reporter. — Ed.)

January, 1963

11

Science in M ashington

SCIENTISTS IN THE NEWS

Contributions to this column may be

addressed to Harold T. Cook. Associate

Editor, c o l .S. Department of Agriculture.

Agricultural Marketing Service . Room 2628

South Building, Washington 25, D. C.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

R. L. Naee spent three weeks in Novem-

ber in Paris, in the capacity of scientific

advisor to the United States delegation to

the General Conference of UNESCO. Dur-

ing that period he also represented the

United States on UNESCO’s Committee of

Experts on Scientific Hydrology, which

prepared a report for the General Con-

ference.

T. P. Thayer returned recently from a

trip made to the Near East to study chro-

mite deposits and related rocks. Visits to

the principal producing districts in Iran.

Pakistan, and Turkey were sponsored by

CENTO, and the Troodos district in Cy-

prus was visited enroute. Dr. Thayer also

presented a paper at the Fifth Congress of

Yugoslav Geologists in Belgrade.

HARRIS RESEARCH

LABORATORIES

Alfred E. Brown was a member of a

panel that discussed “Intellectual Resources

of the Metropolitan Washington Area*' at a

special meeting of the D. C. Chapter of the

Soeietv of the Sigma Xi. on December 3.

Anthony M. Schwartz recently ad-

dressed the chemistry clubs of Howard Uni-

versity and the University of Maryland, on

“Professional Relations of the Chemist.”

Dr. Schwartz is chairman of the Profes-

sional Relations Committee of the Wash-

ington Section. American Chemical Soeietv.

NATIONAL BUREAU

OF STANDARDS

Herbert F. Schiefer, consultant on tex-

tiles and chairman of ASTM Committee

D-13 on Textile Materials, headed the

ASTM delegates attending the Conference

on Pan American Standards, held November

10-15 in Lima Peru, to formally discuss

and initiate the adoption of pan-American

standards for textiles.

James L. Thomas, chief of the Resist-

ance and Reactance Section, retired on

October 19 after 36 years of service: he

will act as a consultant on measurements in

private industry. Dr. Thomas is internation-

ally known for his development of a special

type of electrical resistance standard, the

"Thomas Resistor,” which is used by most

standards laboratories. He also helped

carry out one of the most complete and

accurate measurements of electrical resist-

ance in terms of the units of length and

time.

John B. W achtman. Jr., has been ap-

pointed chief of the Physical Properties

Section, which studies the physical proper-

ties of inorganic, non-metallic crystals.

Bureau specialists took an active role in

the 17th Annual Instrument-Automation

Conference and Exhibit of the Instrument

Society of America, held in the New Tork

Coliseum. Arnold W exler. chief of the

Mechanical Instruments Section, was named

an ISA fellow. Mr. Wexler, who developed

a super-accurate gravimetric standard hy-

grometer. was honored for “distinguished

contributions in the field of standards for

humidity measurements.”

Recent talks by NBS Washington per-

sonnel:

H. C. Allen. Jr.: "EPR Spectrum of

Some Cu~2 Compounds” — Chemistry Col-

loquium, University of Virginia. Charlottes-

ville.

R. G. Bates: “Reference Standards in

Analytical Chemistry” — Analytical Group.

Philadelphia Section. American Chemical

Society.

G. M. Brauer: "Possible Resins for Use

in Dentistry” — Dental School of North-

western University.

M. Greenspan: “Velocity of Sound in

Water” — Acoustical Society of America,

Seattle.

12

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

J. D. Hoffman : “Part I- — Dielectric

Properties of Polychlorotrifluoroethylene”

and “Part II — Spherulithic Growth with

Chain Folds in Polychlorotrifluorethylene”

— University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

J. L. Jackson: “Properties of the Effec-

tive Diffusion Constant” — American Physi-

cal Society, Cleveland.

J. K. Taylor: “Instrumentation and the

Analytical Chemist” — Wilmington Section,

Instrument Society of America, Wilming-

ton, Del.

L. S. Taylor: “Radiation and the World

We Live In” — Honor Lecture, Radiological

Society of North America. “An American

Community Looks at Civil Defense” —

American Medical Association, Symposium

on Disaster Medical Care, Chicago.

R. S. Tipson: “Nomenclature of Sugar

Conformers” — Rockefeller Institute, Or-

ganic Chemistry Discussion Group, New

York City.

L. A. Wall : “Synthesis of New Fluoro-

carbon Polymers and Their Decomposi-

tion”— Philadelphia College of Pharmacy

and Science, Philadelphia Section of the

American Chemical Society. “Polymeriza-

tion at High Pressures, Initiated With

Gamma Rays” — Battelle Memorial Insti-

tute, Columbus.

W. J. Youtlen: “The Sample, the Pro-

cedure, and the Laboratory” — American

Chemical Society, Southeastern Pennsyl-

vania Section, Philadelphia.

L. A. Wood : “The National Bureau of

Standards and Its Work on Rubber” —

Chicago Rubber Group.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES

OF HEALTH

Carl R. Brewer, chief of the Research

Grants Branch. Division of General Med-

ical Sciences, has been named an advisor to

the National Research Council. Dr. Brewer

succeeds Kenneth M. Endieott, director

of the National Cancer Institute, who had

held the position for the past three years.

Aaron S. Posner of the Laboratory of

Histology and Pathology. National Institute

of Dental Research, was invited to be a

Claude Bernard guest professor at the In-

stitute of Experimental Medicine and Sur-

gery, University of Montreal, on November

14.

A new species of malaria parasite has

been named Plasmodium Coatneyi in

honor of G. Robert Coatnev, chief of the

Laboratory of Parasite Chemotherapy, Na-

tional Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases. Dr. Coatney is a past president of

the American Society of Tropical Medicine

and Hygiene.

Paul W. Bowman has been appointed

a research grants coordinator in the Re-

search Grants Branch, Division of General

Medical Sciences. Dr. Bowman had been a

member of the George Washington Univer-

sity faculty for 38 years, and was head of

the Biology Department.

Kenneth M. Endieott, director of the

National Cancer Institute, has been elected

to the Board of Directors of the American

Cancer Society.

Chester W. Emmons has been elected

the first, and at present the only, honorary

member of the International Society for

Human and Animal Mvcology. Dr. Em-

mons is chief of the Medical Mvcologv Sec-

tion of the Laboratory of Infectious

Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

The following scientists recently joined

the staff of the Institution’s Museum of

Natural History.

Richard H. Eyde. who recently received

his doctorate from Harvard University, as

associate curator. Division of Woods.

Francis M. Hueber. formerly of the

Geological Survey of Canada, as associate

curator. Division of Invertebrate Paleon-

tology and Paleobotany.

Harold E. Robinson, recently assist-

ant professor of biology at Wofford Col-

lege, as associate curator, Division of

Crytogams.

Victor G. Springer, formerly of the

Florida State Board of Conservation Ma-

J \ XU ARY. 1963

13

rine Laboratory, as associate curator,

Division of Fishes.

USD A, BELTSVILLE

Stanley A. Hall gave a talk on “Insect

Attractants and Chemosterilants” at the

annual convention of the Association of

American Pesticide Control Officials, at

Cincinnati on October 10. On November

19 he gave another talk, entitled “Pesticides

in Agricultural Progress,” at the Texas

Insect and Plant Disease Control Confer-

ence at Texas A & M College, College

Station.

R. L. W ain of the Agricultural Research

Council, Wye College, England, visited a

number of scientists at Plant Industry Sta-

tion during the week of November 19.

Dr. Wain is conducting outstanding re-

search in the field of plant-growth-regulat-

ing substances, herbicides, and fungicides.

While at Plant Industry Station, he de-

livered an inspiring lecture before a large,

enthusiastic group of local scientists.

At the Fifth International Mushroom

Congress, held in Philadelphia in Novem-

ber, a long-standing member of the Acad-

emy, E. B. Lambert of the Crops Research

Division, ARS. was presented a cash award

of $5,500. The award was given by the

Mushroom Growers of America in recogni-

tion of his research contributions to their

industry. Dr. Lambert was president of the

Congress, which was attended by mush-

room growers and research workers in the

field of mushroom science from 18 coun-

tries.

N. R. Ellis received the Honorary Fellow

Award of American Society of Animal

Science at the annual meeting in Chicago

on November 23-24.

Edward F. Knipling received the Dis-

tinguished Alumni Award from Texas

Agricultural and Mechanical College on

November 16. Dr. Knipling graduated

from Texas A&M in 1930, and has been an

entomologist in USD A since 1931.

USDA, WASHINGTON

During the period November 12-17,

Justus C. Ward served as a representative

from the United States at a Conference on

Pesticides in Agriculture, sponsored by

FAO in Rome. On November 22 and 23,

Dr. Ward visited the headquarters of the

Committee on Insecticides of WHO in

Geneva, and as an invited observer at-

tended meetings of an Expert Committee

then in session.

Harold H. Shepard attended the meet-

ings of the Entomological Society of Amer-

ica held in Phoenix, Ariz., in December.

DEATHS

Sara E. Branham died suddenly on No-

vember 16, at the age of 74; she was an

internationally known bacteriologist. At

the time of her retirement in 1958, she was

chief of the Section on Bacterial Toxins,

Division of Biologies Standards, National

Institutes of Health. Dr. Branham was a

native of Oxford, Ga.; she received A.B.

degrees from Wesleyan College (Macon.

Ga.), and the University of Colorado, and

the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Uni-

versity of Chicago. The University of Colo-

rado awarded her an honorary Doctor of

Science degree in 1937.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

January 14 — American Society for

Metals

S. L. Gertsman, Canadian Department of

Mines and Technical Surveys, “Non-

nuclear Uses of Uranium in Metallurgy.”

8:00 p.m., AAUW Building, 2401 Vir-

ginia Ave., N.W.

January 15 — Anthropological Society

of Washington

Robert Lystad, Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity, “Fieldwork in Ghana.”

8:15 p.m., Rm. 43, National Museum,

10th & Constitution Ave., N.W.

January 15 — American Institute of

Electrical Engineers

Donald E. Garr. director of engineering.

Raytheon Company, “Lasers” (slides and

demonstrations) .

Dinner at 6:00 p.m., O’Donnell’s Restau-

rant, 1221 E St.. N.W. : meeting at 8:00

14

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

p.m.. PEPCO Auditorium, 10th & E Sts.,

N.W.

January 16 — Washington Society of

Engineers

N. W. Eft, research engineer, Babcock

& Willcox, “Coal Slurry — Its Transporta-

tion and Combustion.”

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

January 16 — American Meteorologi-

cal Society

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., National Academy of Sciences.

January 16 — American Society for

Quality Control

Joseph A. Gwyer, Library of Congress,

“Quality Control and Reliability in the

USSR.”

8:00 p.m., ballroom of Roger Smith

Hotel, 18th & Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

January 16 — Institute of Environ-

mental Sciences

David Orbock and Martin Marietta,

“Simulation of Space Environment.”

8:00 p.m., Holiday Inn of Baltimore,

Lock Raven Blvd. & Joppa Rd., Towson.

Md.

January 17 — Society of American

Foresters

Michael Frome, “Public Image of the

Forestry Profession.” (Mr. Frome is au-

thor of the book, “Whose Woods These

Are,” concerned with wild land areas.)

Dinner meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m.,

YWCA, 17th & K Sts., N.W. (Wives of

members are particularly invited to attend.)

January 21 — Society of American

Military Engineers

Program to be announced.

Noon, Barker Hall, YWCA, 17th & K

Sts., N.W.

January 22 — American Society for

Microbiology

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m.. Sternberg Auditorium, Walter

Reed.

January 23 — Geological Society of

Washington

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

January 24 American Society of

Mechanical Engineers

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m.. PEPCO Auditorium, 10th &

E Sts., N.W.

January 27 — February 1 — American

Institute of Electrical Engineers

General meeting.

Hotels Statler-Hilton and New Yorker,

New York City.

January 28 — I). C. Society of Profes-

sional Engineers

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., National Housing Center,

1625 L St., N.W.

NEW MEMBERS ELECTED

The following persons were elected to

membership in the Academy at the Board

of Managers meeting of December 6:

Warren L. Butler, biophysicist. Agri-

cultural Marketing Service, USD A (Belts-

ville), “in recognition of his contributions

to a better understanding of the biophysical

phenomena in plants, and in particular his

role in detecting and quantitatively assay-

ing phytochrome.” (Sponsors: Peter H.

Heinz, Jacob M. Lutz, Robert E. Harden-

burg.)

Charles C. Craft, plant physiologist,

USDA (Beltsville) , “in recognition of his

contributions in the field of post-harvest

physiology of fruits and vegetables, and in

particular the effects of storage on bio-

chemical changes, composition, and volatile

emanations of tomatoes, peaches, and pota-

toes.” (Sponsors: Peter H. Heinz, Jacob

M. Lutz, Robert E. Hardenburg.)

Donald R. Egolf, cytogeneticist, Na-

January, 1963

15

lional Arboretum, “in recognition of his

contributions to our knowledge of the cyto-

genetics and cytotaxonomy of cultivated

woody plants, especially of Viburnum,

leading to a better understanding of the

principles of developing improved economic

plants.” (Sponsors: Egbert H. Walker,

H. A. Borthwick, S. L. Emsweller.)

Robert J. Fallon, assistant professor,

Institute for Molecular Physics, University

of Maryland, “in recognition of his con-

tributions to chemical physics, and in par-

ticular his researches on molecular inter-

actions.” (Sponsors: Joseph T. Vanderslice,

Homer Schamp, Jr., Edward A. Mason.)

Louis Monchick, chemist, Applied

Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity, “in recognition of his contributions

to chemical physics, and in particular his

researches on gas kinetics and transport

phenomena.” (Sponsors: Edward A. Ma-

son. Joseph T. Vanderslice, Homer Schamp.

Jr.)

Stanley Weissman, assistant professor,

Institute for Molecular Physics, University

of Maryland, “in recognition of his con-

tributions to molecular physics, and in par-

ticular his research on transport properties

of gases.” (Sponsors: Joseph T. Vander-

slice, Homer Schamp, Jr., Edward A. Ma-

son.)

Arthur A. Westenberg, supervisor, re-

search in high temperature chemistry and

physics, Applied Physics Laboratory of

Johns Hopkins University, “in recognition

of his contributions to the measurement

of transport properties of gases at high

temperatures and of the fundamental prop-

erties of laminar and turbulent flames.”

(Sponsors: Edward A. Mason, Homer W.

Schamp, Jr., Joseph T. Vanderslice.)

JOINT BOARD ON

SCIENCE EDUCATION

Chemistry Teaching Conference

The Joint Board’s Fourth Annual Con-

ference on the Teaching of Chemistry was

a most successful affair. One hundred and

five persons attended the meeting, held in

Marvel Hall of the American Chemical So-

ciety Building on Saturday, December 8.

The morning session featured a lecture

and discussion period with J. Arthur Camp-

bell of Harvey Mudd College, Claremont,

Calif., as speaker and discussion leader.

Professor Campbell, who is executive direc-

tor of the Chemical Material Study (CHEM

Study) made a plea for more meaningful

student laboratory work in which the re-

sults are unknown and unpredictable by

the student, and perhaps even to science.

He illustrated his point by a demonstration

in which a fluid contained in a bottle was

shaken, whereupon a blue color was gen-

erated only to revert to a colorless state on

standing. Those present were asked to sug-

gest reasons for the observed behavior, that

could be tested experimentally for their

validity. From the eagerness shown by each

spectator to examine the bottle and to test

a personal theory, it was evident that Dr.

Campbell had not only made a point about

exciting experiments, but also had proved

himself to be a master teacher as well.

Dr. Campbell discussed the use of films

in teaching chemistry, and showed a new

film on the periodic table. The discussion

that followed emphasized that inaccuracies

in a film can be used to teaching advan-

tage; for example, the recent discovery of

xenon tetrafluoride requires modification

of statements made in the film about the

inertness of the noble gases.

The afternoon session consisted of two

simultaneous discussion periods concerned

with CHEM-Study chemistry and with pro-

grammed instruction in chemistry. The

first was led by Dr. Campbell, while the

second was led by Jay A. Young, head of

the Chemistry Department at King’s Col-

lege I Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), a leading author-

ity on programmed instruction. The groups

interchanged during the last half of the

session, so that all present had the oppor-

tunity to participate in smaller group dis-

cussions of both subjects.

16

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Engineering Education Conference

The Second Annual Conference on En-

gineering Education, arranged by the Joint

Board in the NSF-sponsored program

series, will be held at Catholic University

on Saturday, January 12. The D.C. Council

of Engineering and Architectural Societies,

co-sponsor of the conference, has planned

an outstanding program.

The morning session will open with two

talks on the manpower situation for engi-

neers, to be presented by Robert W. Cain,

program director for manpower studies,

National Science Foundation, and by New-

man Hall of the Commission on Engineer-

ing Education. These will be followed by a

presentation of “The World of Engineer-

ing” by the following : in Industry — George

R. Seidel, E. I. duPont de Nemours Com-

pany; in Government — Charles Bernier,

chief scientist, ASTI A; in Architecture —

Francis D. Lethbridge, architect, AIA.

The luncheon will be followed by a talk

on the Junior Engineering Technical So-

ciety Program, by Richard T. Fallon, na-

tional director of this Program.

The afternoon session will be opened with

a panel discussion on “How to Encourage

High School Students to Enter Engineer-

ing.” Panelists will include Harold Foecke.

HEW ; Walter C. Connolly of the School of

Engineering, University of Virginia; and

Stewart Wood, president of the Washington

Junior Academy of Sciences. Ample time

has been provided for all present to par-

ticipate in the discussion.

The expected 100 participants will in-

clude high school guidance counselors,

science teachers, and academic and profes-

sional engineers.

BOARD OF MANAGERS

MEETING NOTES

November Meeting

The Board of Managers held its 550th

meeting on November 7 at the National

Academy of Sciences, with President Van

Evera presiding.

The minutes of the 549th meeting were

approved as previously circulated.

January, 1963

Announcements. Dr. Van Evera an-

nounced the appointment of Lawrence A.

Wood as chairman of a Bylaws Committee,

to work with the Policy and Planning Com-

mittee in the current proposed revision of

the Bylaws.

Membership. Chairman Mary L. Rob-

bins announced that the Committee had

added to its organization a new panel on

behavioral sciences, to consider applica-

tions in that area; John C. Ewers of the

Smithsonian Institution is chairman of the

panel.

Dr. Robbins presented the names of

seven nominees for membership, for First

Reading.

Awards. Dr. Van Evera reported that

John S. Toll, general chairman of the

committee, was receptive to nominations

for the Academy’s annual awards. Other

members of the committee are Don Mar-

lowe, engineering sciences; Ugo Fano,

physical sciences; Robert Berliner, biologi-

cal sciences; F. Joachim Weyl, mathe-

matics; and Leo Schubert, teaching of

science.

Grants-in-Aid. On motion of Chairman

A. T. McPherson, the Board agreed that

AAAS be asked to issue grant-in-aid checks

to the following: Clark Tibbetts of George

C. Marshall High School, $54, to purchase

radioactive materials for research; James

Steakley of the same school, $31, to pur-

chase and ship the working material and

equipment for housing animals, and other

supplies; Daniel Peacock of the National

Museum, $100, to make ten field trips for

the collection of special species of field

mice.

Policy and Planning. Chairman Wayne

Hall discussed the pros and cons of a

“calendar” vs an “academic” year basis for

conducting the Academy’s activities, and

proposed that the Academy henceforth

conduct its activities on an academic year

basis beginning July 1 each year. The en-

suing discussion was lively, but revealed no

predominant sentiment for or against the

proposal. The Board accordingly tabled

the motion.

Dr. Hall also discussed the need for

17

clarification or revision of the Bylaws with

respect to elective officers of the Academy.

The language of the currently pending By-

laws revisions provides that all eight of the

Academy’s officers ( president, president-

elect, secretary, treasurer, editor, managing

editor, archivist, and custodian of publica-

tions) shall be elected. In response to a

suggestion from Editor Detwiler, the com-

mittee expects to make it clear that the last

four of these offices are appointive. It also

expects to consider a correlary suggestion,

that some of the appointive offices are no

longer needed.

Science Education . Chairman John K.

Taylor reported that the National Science

Foundation had been requested to support

the following three one-year projects, pro-

posed for initiation July 1, 1963: $10,630

for continuation of the conferences on sci-

ence teaching; $6,990 for continuation of

the visiting scientists and engineers lecture

program; $900 to initiate a college science

conference in the Washington area.

Dr. Taylor reported that the most recent

science education conference, concerned

with physics, had been held on November

3; about 40 persons attended. Projected

conferences include one on general science

for the Northern Virginia area, at Ham-

mond High School on November 17 ; on

teaching of chemistry at the American

Chemical Society headquarters on Decem-

ber 8; and on engineering at Catholic Uni-

versity on January 12.

Election of Members. Following the

Second Reading of their names by Dr.

Robbins, five nominees were elected to

membership in the Academy, as follows:

Robert R. Bennett, Hyman P. Kaufman,

Ruth M. Leverton, Harvey C. Moore, and

Gustave Shapiro.

Nomination of Officers. Ralph D. Myers,

senior affiliated society delegate acting as

chairman of the Nominating Committee,

presented a slate of candidates for office in

1963; and additional nominations were

made by petition of members of the Board.

The task of selecting a slate of candidates

had been complicated by the resignation,

several months ago, of President-elect

Heinz Specht.

The slate of candidates, to be voted on in {

December by mail ballot of the member-

ship, is as follows:

President: B. D. Van Evera. President - I

elect: Francois N. Frenkiel and Marion W.

Parker. Secretary: George W. Irving, Jr.

Treasurer : Malcolm C. Henderson. Man- \

agers (two to be selected) : Mary Louise |

Robbins, John K. Taylor, Allen Alexander,

and Harold T. Cook.

Treasurer. Treasurer Henderson reported

current balances as follows: Academy, I

$7,700; Junior Academy, $2,273; Joint

Board, $10,000. Dr. Henderson also re- j

ported that the surplus publications of the I

Academy, amounting to about 15 tons, had

been shipped to the Johnson Reprint Com-

pany in New York for sorting, cataloging,

and pricing. On receipt of this material, the

firm had requested permission to discard

some of it that was in oversupply and short

demand. The Board authorized Dr. Hen-

derson to take appropriate steps in this j

connection.

The Board approved a 10-percent salary

increase for the Academy’s office assistant, j

Editor. Editor Detwiler reported that the

November issue of the Journal had gone to

press; also, that the list of delegates to the

Academy, appearing on the inside rear I

cover of the Journal, had been brought up

to date.

New Business. The Board approved a

motion by Frank L. Campbell, that the

president appoint a special committee to !

consider how the Academy could assist in

preparing for and conducting two inter-

national congresses — one on psychology

and one on zoology — that will be held in

Washington in August 1963.

December Meeting

The Board of Managers held its 551st I

meeting on December 6 at the National

Academy of Sciences, with President Van I

Evera presiding.

The minutes of the 550th meeting were j

approved as previously circulated, with

minor corrections.

18

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Membership. Chairman Mary L. Robbins

presented the name of one nominee for

membership, for First Reading.

Awards for Scientific Achievement. It

was agreed that the annual achievement

awards would be presented this year at the

February meeting, rather than at the Jan-

uary meeting; the award presentations

would take the place of the customary ad-

dress by the retiring president.

Meetings. Dr. Van Evera announced

that the next regular meeting would be

held on December 20 at the Cosmos Club,

and that John D. Hoffman of NBS would

speak on “The Crystallization of Linear

Polymers with Chain Folding.” He reported

that he had not yet been able to appoint a

new chairman for the Meetings Committee.

Grants-in-Aid. Chairman A. T. McPher-

son presented an application from Clayton

Curtis, Jr. (age 15), for aid in building a

transistor diode electronic computer as a

prelude to a career in electronics, and spe-

cifically in computer technology. The total

materials bill was estimated at $876, of

which the Academy was asked to pay $200.

The project had the endorsement of knowl-

edgeable persons at NBS and IBM. The

Board approved the application.

Encouragement of Science Talent. Chair-

man Abner Brenner announced that he ex-

pected to retire from this Committee, after

three years of service. Dr. Van Evera took

under advisement the appointment of his

successor.

Election of Members. Following the Sec-

ond Reading of their names by Dr. Robbins,

seven nominees were elected to membership

in the Academy, as follows: Warren L.

Butler, Charles C. Craft, Donald R. Egolf,

Robert J. Fallon, Louis Monchick, Stanley

Weissman, and Arthur A. Westenberg.

Treasurer. L)r. Henderson reported cash

balances as follows: Academy, $5,344;

Junior Academy, $2,732; Joint Board,

$12,722.

Dr. Henderson announced that the Acad-

emy’s books for 1962 would be closed on

December 21. He expected that the Acad-

emy would have a slight reduction in its

cash balance, as compared with 1961.

Editor. Mr. Detwiler reported that the

December issue of the Journal had gone

to press.

Announcements. Dr. Frenkiel announced

that a union was being consummated be-

tween the Institute of the Aerospace Sci-

ences and the American Rocket Society.

The new organization would be called the

American Institute of Aero- and Astro-

nautics.

New Business. Mr. Brombacher raised

the question of a change in the business

year of the Academy. This matter had been

tabled at the November Board meeting, at

least as a change applicable to Academy

operations as a whole; but on further dis-

cussion it was moved and seconded that

the term of office of the Meetings Commit-

tee and the Membership Committee be put

on an academic year basis, namely, from

July 1 to June 30. The motion was passed.

Also discussed was the question of

whether the Board should meet on a regu-

lar night of each month, or on a rotating

schedule as in 1962. A decision was post-

poned until the next Board meeting, which

was set for January 8.

SCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT

George Washington University has

received a research grant of $24,725

from the National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases, which will be

used for a study of inhibition of growth

of microorganisms. H. George Mandel, of

the Department of Pharmacology, will

direct the project.

Howard University has received a

$40,000 grant from the National Sci-

ence Foundation to increase the

capacity of its IBM Computing Center.

The computer is used to solve problems in

bookkeeping, bridge and road design,

physics, chemistry, and statistical analysis.

The grant will make it possible to increase

the capacity of the digital computer sys-

tem from 20,000 to 60,000 numbers.

January, 1963

19

Department of Agricultural scien-

tists have isolated a natural attractant

from female American cockroaches.

This achievement may lead to development

of new. more effective methods of con-

trolling these household pests. Chemists are

now trying to identify the substance as the

first step toward preparation of an inex-

pensive synthetic attractant; it is not

practicable to use the natural attractant as

a control tool, since thousands of female

cockroaches are required to produce very

small amounts. An inexpensive synthetic

attractant could be mixed with insecti-

cides or combined with a chemosterilant.

Also, it could be used in detecting a cock-

roach infestation in the early stages.

A model of the SM-1 military nu-

clear power plant has been trans-

ferred to the Division of Manufactures

and Heavy Industries of the National

Museum. It will be displayed in the hall

of nuclear energy at the Smithsonian’s new

Museum of History and Technology. The

SM-1 is the first of its type and size to be

built in the United States; it began opera-

tion at Fort Belvoir, Va., on April 15,

1957. A field plant based on SM-1 design

is currently furnishing heat and electricity

at Fort Greely, Alaska. Plants in Green-

land, Wyoming, and Antarctica were

prepackaged by their manufacturers in air-

transportable modules for rapid installa-

tion at remote sites. Crews trained by the

Army Nuclear Power Program can erect

these portable plants in less than 90 days.

According to a news release by the

Smithsonian Institution, shortage of

available fresh water threatens to be-

come crucial in the United States —

as well as the rest of the world — with-

in the next two decades. The maximum

dependable supply of fresh water for this

nation is about 515 billion gallons a day.

Water use has increased from 40 billion

gallons daily in 1900 to 323 billion gallons

at present; it will rise to at least 597 bil-

lion gallons by 1980. The most promising

solution would be distilling water from

the oceans. The Federal Government is

spending $1 million to $3 million a year to

subsidize research on conversion of ocean

or bay water. Costs of conversion are now

$1.74 to $4.00 per thousand gallons, as

compared to American municipal water

rates of 25 to 40 cents per thousand gal-

lons.

20

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Delegates to the Washington Academy of Sciences, Representing

the Local Affiliated Societies*

Philosophical Society of Washington

Anthropological Society of Washington

Biological Society of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

Entomological Society of Washington

National Geographic Society

Geological Society of Washington

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Columbia Historical Society

Botanical Society of Washington

Society of American Foresters

Washington Society of Engineers

American Institute of Electrical Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Helminthological Society of Washington

American Society for Microbiology

Society of American Military Engineers

Institute of Radio Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

American Society for Metals

International Association for Dental Research

Institute of the Aerospace Sciences

American Meteorological Society

Insecticide Society of Washington

Acoustical Society of America

American Nuclear Society

Institute of Food Technologists

R. D. Myers

Regina Flannery Herzield

John A. Paradiso

Alfred E. Brown

Frank L. Campbell

Alexander Wetmore

G. Arthur Cooper

Frederick 0. Coe

U. S. Grant, III

Wilbur D. McClellan

Harry A. Fo wells

Carl I. Aslakson

William A. Geyger

William G. Allen

Doys A. Shorb

Howard Reynolds

Delegate not appointed

Robert D. Huntoon

Thorndike Saville, Jr.

Falconer Smith

Hugh L. Logan

Aaron S. Posner

Francois N. Frenkiel

Jack Thompson

Robert A. Fulton

Malcolm C. Henderson

George L. Weil

Richard P. Farrow

Delegates continue in office until new selections are made by the respective affiliated societies.

Volume 53

JANUARY 1963

No. 1

CONTENTS

Lore Alford Rogers, Pioneer Dairy Scientist 1

Joint Board on Science Education: Summary Report for 1962 7

The Brownstone Tower 10

Science in Washington

Scientists in the News 12

Calendar of Events 14

New Members Elected 15

Joint Board on Science Education 16

Board of Managers Meeting Notes 17

Science and Development 19

Washington Academy of Sciences 2nd Class Postage

1530— P St., N.W. Paid at

Washington, D. C. Washington, D. C.

Return Requested

L I tt H A ft Y Qf ARNOLD

ARBORETUM

22 divinity a v e j

C AMSft | DOE Z8 MASS ft AS

JOURNAL

of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY

of

SCIENCES

Vol. 53 • No. 2

FEBRUARY 1963

JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Editor: Samuel B. Detwiler, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Associate

Frank L. Campbell, National Academy of

Sciences

Harold T. Cook, Department of Agriculture

Richard P. Farrow, National Canners Asso-

ciation

Editors

Russell B. Stevens, George Washington

University

John K. Taylor, National Bureau of Standards

Lawrence A. Wood. National Bureau of

Standards

Contributors

Albert M. Stone, Applied Physics Laboratory

John A. O’Brien, Jr., Catholic University

Charles A. Whitten, Coast & Geodetic Survey

Margaret D. Foster, Geological Survey

Reuben E. Wood, George Washington Univer-

sity

Joseph B. Morris, Howard University

Frank L. Campbell, NAS-NRC

Gerhard M. Brauer, National Bureau of

Standards

Howard W. Bond, National Institutes of Health

Ileen E. Stewart, National Science Foundation

Allen L. Alexander, Naval Research Laboratory

Victor R. Boswell, USDA, Beltsville

Harold T. Cook, USDA, Washington

William J. Bailey, University of Maryland

This Journal, the official organ of the Washington Academy of Sciences, publishes historical

articles, critical reviews, and scholarly scientific articles; notices of meetings and abstract proceed-

ings of meetings of the Academy and its affiliated societies; and regional news items, including

personal news, of interest to the entire membership. The Journal appears nine times a year, in

January to May and September to December.

Subscription rate: $7.50 per year (U.S.) or $1.00 per copy; foreign postage extra. Subscrip-

tion orders should be sent to the Washington Academy of Sciences, 1530 P St., N.W., Washington,

D.C. Remittances should be made payable to “Washington Academy of Sciences.”

Back issues of the Journal and Proceedings of the Academy have been taken in charge by the

Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York City, which will handle sales on a commission basis.

This firm expects to be set up early in 1963 for the direct handling of orders for back numbers.

Meanwhile, requests for back numbers should continue to be addressed to the Academy Office at

1530 P St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Claims for missing numbers will not be allowed if received more than 60 days after date of

mailing plus time normally required for postal delivery and claim. No claims will be allowed

because of failure to notify the Academy of a change of address.

Changes of address should be sent promptly to the Academy Office, 1530 P St., N.W.,

Washington, D.C. Such notification should include both old and new addresses and postal zone

number, if any.

OFFICERS OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

President: Benjamin D. Van Evera, George Washington University

President-Elect: Francois N. Frenkiel, David Taylor Model Basin

Secretary: George W. Irving, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Treasurer: Malcolm C. Henderson, Catholic University

Five Scientists to Receive

Academy’s Annual Awards

Awards for outstanding achievement in

scientific research will be conferred upon

four young scientists at the Washington

Academy’s 65th Annual Dinner Meeting,

to be held on February 21 at the Cosmos

Club. At the same meeting, a stimulating

teacher of science also will receive an

award.

The young investigators to be honored

are Marshall Nirenberg of the National

Institutes of Health, in the biological

sciences; Edward A. Mason, of the Uni-

versity of Maryland, in the physical

sciences; Lindell E. Steele, of the Naval

Research Laboratory, in the engineering

sciences; and Bruce L. Reinhart, of the

University of Maryland, in mathematics.

The award on the teaching of science will

go to Rev. Francis J. Heyden, S. J., of

Georgetown University.

It has been customary for these annual

awards to be presented by the retiring

president at the January meeting of the

Academy. Because current President Van

Evera was elected for a second year and

is not retiring in 1963, he has chosen

to present the awards at the February

meeting. He will be assisted by John S.

Toll, head of the Department of Physics

and Astronomy at the University of Mary-

land and chairman of the Academy’s

Committee on Awards for Scientific

Achievement. The awards consist of

scrolls engrossed with a citation. If not

already a fellow of the Academy, the award

recipient will be invited to accept fellow-

ship, with remission of dues for the first

two years.

The Academy’s awards program was in-

itiated in 1939 to recognize young scien-

tists of the local area for “noteworthy

discovery, accomplishment, or publication’

in the physical, biological, and engineer-

ing sciences. An award for outstanding

teaching was added in 1955 and another

for mathematics was launched in 1959.

All previous award winners are listed else-

where in this story.

Except in science teaching, where no

age ceiling has been set, candidates for

awards must be under 40. From, among

solicited nominations each recipient of an

award is selected by an appropriate panel

of specialists under the general chairman-

ship of Dr. Toll. The panel chairmen for

the present awards are: Robert Berliner

(biological sciences) ; Ugo Fano (physical

sciences) ; Donald E. Marlowe (engineer-

ing sciences) ; F. J. Weyl (mathematics) ;

and Leo Schubert (teaching of science).

Biological Sciences

Winner of the award in the biological

sciences, Marshall Nirenberg is a staff

member of the Section on Metabolic

Enzymes in the Laboratory of Biochem-

istry and Metabolism, National Institute

of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. He

graduated from the University of Florida

in 1948, not knowing what he wanted to

do. He tried more than one occupation,

and in 1952 took a master’s degree in

entomology, also at the University of

Florida. Then he switched to biochem-

istry and took his Ph.D. at the University

of Michigan in 1957. Since then he has

worked at NIH, first on postdoctoral fel-

lowships, then as a member of the staff.

Dr. Nirenberg is cited “for contributions

toward the first direct experimental veri-

fication of the chemical basis of the genetic

code.” He has already been honored in

Washington for this work by the Na-

tional Academy of Sciences, which at its

annual meeting in the spring of 1962

conferred upon him its first award in

February, 1963

21

Award W inners at Annual Academy Meeting

M. Nirenberg

E. A. Mason

L. E. Steele

B. L. Reinhart

molecular biology. Additional informa-

tion about Dr. Nirenberg and his work

may be found in The Brownstone Tower

of this Journal for March 1962.

Physical Sciences

Edward A. Mason became full professor

in the Institute of Molecular Physics. Uni-

versity of Maryland, in 1960 when he

was 34. His progression to his present

eminence began at Virginia Polytechnic

Institute, and continued at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology to his Ph.D. in

1950 in physical chemistry. He remained

at MIT for two years, held a fellowship

at the University of Wisconsin for one

year, and then became assistant professor

of chemistry at Pennsylvania State Uni-

versity in 1953. In 1955 he moved to his

present institute as associate professor.

Dr. Mason is cited “for his many out-

standing contributions to the molecular

theory of gas properties.” On being ques-

F.J. Heyden, S.J.

tioned about the significance of the citation.

Dr. Mason pointed out that it had to do

with both experimental and theoretical

studies on forces between molecules and

their interactions in gases; in other words,

he is concerned with the kinetic theory

of gases. Working with associates, he

has support for his research program from

three different agencies.

Engineering Sciences

Like Dr. Nirenberg. the recipient of the

award in engineering sciences, Lindell E.

Steele, is not to be found in American Men

of Science, not because he could not

qualify, but because he has been over-

looked. Now 34, he took his bachelor’s

degree in chemistry at George Washington

University. He is head of the Radiations

Operations Section. Metallurgy Division,

at the Naval Research Laboratory, and

has been cited “for contributions to the

field of radiation effects to reactor pressure

22

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

vessel materials.” This means that he has

been studying principally the effects of

neutron irradiation on materials used for

the construction of reactors, especially ad-

vanced structural steel.

Mr. Steele is an unusual person, not

only because of his significant research,

but because he has had the forethought

to educate himself more broadly than is

the custom among scientists. He won a

master’s degree in economics from Ameri-

can University, obtained by persistent ef-

fort at night. He holds membership in a

national social science honorary society.

He will probably continue to learn for the

rest of his life, but no longer in a formal

manner; now he must pay attention to

his specialty, and to his four young

daughters.

Mathematics

Bruce L. Reinhart is associate professor

of mathematics at the University of Mary-

land. He took his bachelor’s degree at

Lehigh, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at Prince-

ton; he is now only 32. After taking his

Ph.D. he taught at Princeton, the Uni-

versity of Chicago, and the University of

Michigan, coming to the University of

Maryland in 1959. In addition to his

academic post, he is a mathematician for

the Research Institute for Advanced Study

at Baltimore, an organization for pure

research supported by the Martin Com-

pany. During the academic year 1961-

1962 he held a NATO fellowship at the

University of Strasbourg. Dr. Reinhart

is cited “for his contributions to the topol-

ogy of differentiable manifolds.”

Teaching of Science

Probably no one in the Washington area

concerned in any way with science is unac-

quainted with Rev. Francis J. Heyden, S. J..

director of the Observatory of Georgetown

University. He took his Ph.D. in astron-

omy at Harvard in 1944, and has been

on the staff of Georgetown University ever

since. According to American Men of

Science, his research has been concerned

with geodetic determinations from oberva-

tions of satellites, solar eclipses, and high

altitude flares; and spectra of the atmos-

pheres of the sun and planets.

Father Heyden’s citation is a graceful

compliment to his inspiring life: “By com-

bining teaching and research, he leads

others to join his adventures in science.”

His helpfulness is not limited to his own

students, but extends to the whole scientific

community, especially to secondary school

students who are beginning to take an

interest in science. For them, Father Hey-

den will make available if he can the

currently excellent facilities of his Uni-

versity for scientific meetings and social

events.

Past Winners of Scientific Achievement Awards

Washington Academy of Sciences *

Biological Sciences

1939 Herbert Friedmann, SI

1940 No award given

1941 G. Arthur Cooper, USNM

1942 Robert S. Campbell

1943 Jason R. Swallen, USDA

1944 Norman H. Topping, NIH

1945 Henry K. Townes, USDA

1946 Waldo R. Wedel, USNM

1947 No award given

1948 Robert J. Huebner, NIH

1949 Edward G. Hampp, NIH

1950 David H. Dunkle, USNM

1951 Edward W. Baker, USNM

1952 Ernest A. Lachner, USNM

1953 Bernard L. Horecker, NIH

1954 Leon Jacobs, NIH

1955 Clifford Evans, SI

Betty J. Meggers, SI

Robert Traub, WRAIR

1956 Earl Reese Stadtman, NIH

1957 Maurice R. Hilleman, WRAMC

1958 Ellis T. Bolton, CIW

H. George Mandel, GWU

1959 Dwight W. Taylor, USGS

1960 Louis S. Baron, WRAIR

1961 Robert W. Krauss, UM

* The institutions listed are those to which these

scientists were attached at the time they received

their awards. See below for key to initials.

February, 1963

23

Physical Sciences

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1959

1960

John R. Pellam, NBS

S’amuel N. Foner, APL, JH

Terrell Leslie Hill, NMRI

Elias Burstein, NRL

Ernest Ambler, NBS

Raymond Hayward, NBS

Dale Hoppes, NBS

Ralph P. Hudson, NBS

Lewis M. Branscomb, NBS

Meyer Rubin, USGS

Alan C. Kolb, NRL

Richard A. Ferrell, UM

John Hoffman, NBS

Max A. Kohler, USWB

William R. Campbell, NBS

Robert L. Henry, APL, JH

W. S. Pellini, ONR

Arthur E. Bonney, APL, JH

M. L. Greenough, NBS

Joseph Weber, UM

San-fu Shen, UM

Harvey R. Chaplin, Jr., DTMB

Romald E. Bowles, DOFL

Rodney E. Grantham, NOL

Lawrence E. Payne, UM

Key to the Institutions and Number

of Award Winners from Each

3 APL-JH

1 BA-USN

5 CIW

1 DOFL

1 DTMB

2 GWU

24 NBS

6 NIH

1 NMRI

1 NOL

3 NRL

Teaching of Science

1955 Helen N. Cooper, Montgomery County

Public Schools

1956 Phoebe H. Knipling, Arlington County

Public Schools

1957 Dale E. Gerster, Bladensburg High School

1958 Carol V. McCammon, Coolidge High School

1959 Betty Schaaf, Deal Junior High School

Helen Garstens, University of Maryland

1960 Karl F. Herzfeld, Catholic University

Pauline Diamond, Sherwood High School

1961 Ralph D. Myers, University of Maryland

Charles R. Naeser, George Washington

University

Teaching of Science Special Awards

1951 Howard B. Owens, D. C. Public Schools

1952 Keith C. Johnson, D. C. Public Schools

24

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Lasers

Thomas R. Lawrence *

National Bureau of Standards

I. Introduction

A laser is a new type of light source in

which a large number of radiating atoms

are coordinated to produce a very intense

light beam that is nearly monochromatic,

well collimated, and extremely coherent.

A light beam with these properties has

many potential applications: hence, lasers

have been the subject of widespread and

intensive research. Many varieties of lasers

have been developed in the few years since

the proposal for such a device by A. L.

Schawlow and C. H. Townes (1) in 1958.

Some specific types of lasers will be dis-

cussed after an introduction to lasers in

general.

The term “laser” is derived from the first

letters of the words in the phrase “Light

Amplification by Stimulated Emission of

Radiation.” However, “laser” usually re-

fers to a device that is not merely a light

amplifier but also an oscillator, which is

an amplifier with positive feedback through

a resonant circuit. The operation of a

laser is analogous to a radio frequency

oscillator; however, this analogy will not

be emphasized, since the techniques for

obtaining gain and resonant feedback at

optical frequencies are so different from

those at radio frequencies.

It should be mentioned that other names

besides “laser” have appeared in the

rapidly expanding literature on this sub-

* Dr. Lawrence, a native of Dunkirk, N. Y., is

a graduate of Antioch College (B.S., 1954) and

Harvard University (A.M., 1956, Ph.D. in physics,

1961). He joined the NBS staff in October 1961,

and has been working on lasers, with emphasis on

development of a helium-neon laser as a light

source for interferometric measurement of long

path lengths.

ject. “Optical maser” is often used, since

it is the term favored by the inventors

and by the scientists at the Bell Telephone

Laboratories; but “optical oscillator,”

“optical resonator,” and “iraser” (for

those radiating infrared) also have been

used. It remains to be seen which name

will eventually gain acceptance. (Some

scientists in the field talk informally about

“lasers” and write papers about “optical

masers.”) Since the choice still seems to

be open, this article will be about lasers.

II. Atomic Processes and Coherent

Light Amplification

The operation of a laser depends on

the utilization and, to some extent, manip-

ulation of the naturally occurring transi-

tions between the energy levels of a quan-

tized system, such as an atom. There are

three distinct but theoretically related types

of radiative transitions between two of the

energy levels of a quantized system. First,

there is the process of spontaneous emis-

sion. An atom in an energy level E2 may

spontaneously drop to a lower energy level

El5 and emit a photon whose wavelength

is A12 = hc/(E2 — Ex) (h is Planck’s

constant and c is the velocity of light).

Spontaneous emission is a random process

that occurs at a rate which is proportional

to the population of the atoms in the upper

energy level. Because it is a random proc-

ess, there is no correlation in the phase

or direction of the photons emitted spon-

taneously.

The second process is the absorption of

radiation. An atom in the lower energy

level, E1? may absorb a photon whose wave-

length is A12 and jump to the higher energy

level E2. The rate for this process is pro-

February, 1963

25

portional to the number of atoms in the

lower energy level and the intensity of the

radiation whose wavelength is A12.

The third process, stimulated emission,

is the basis of the laser. Radiation of

wavelength A 12 may interact with an atom

in the higher energy level E2, and induce

the atom to make a transition to the lower

energy level, Ei, emitting a photon whose

wavelength is identical with the wave-

length of the incident radiation. Stimu-

lated emission is not a random process;

the stimulated photon is emitted in phase

with the incident radiation. Thus, stimu-

lated emission offers a means by which a

number of radiating atoms may be co-

ordinated with an incident light wave to

produce amplification of the light wave.

However, amplification by stimulated emis-

sion must compete with attenuation by

absorption. The rate of stimulated emis-

sion is proportional to the number of

atoms in the higher energy level and the

intensity of the radiation whose wave-

length is A12. In a medium which con-

tains Ni atoms in the lower energy level

and N2 atoms in the higher energy level,

absorption will predominate if Ni is

greater than N2; stimulated emission will

predominate if N2 is greater than Ni.

Usually, it is expected that the population

of the energy levels will be distributed ac-

cording to the Maxwell Boltzmann equa-

tion,

Ng/N ! =e - ( £2— El ) / AT

( k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the

absolute temperature). In this case, Ni

will be greater than N2 and absorption

will predominate. However, there are cases

in which N2 is greater than Ni and stimu-

lated emission predominates. The condi-

tion in which the population in an upper

energy level is greater than the population

in a lower energy level is called a popula-

tion inversion.

In order to establish and maintain a

population inversion, there must be a

method of exciting atoms selectively to

the upper energy level, E2, and an efficient

means of removing atoms from the lower

energy level Ei. Here, transition processes 1

other than stimulated emission become im-

portant. In addition to the radiative tran-

sitions considered previously there are sev-

eral types of radiationless transitions. In

a gas, an atom may make a radiationless

transition when it makes an inelastic col-

lision with an electron, a molecule, or

another atom. In a solid, the energy

difference involved in the radiationless

transition may be transferred to lattice

vibrations, thus heating the solid. The

method for selectively exciting atoms to

the energy level E2 involves either an in-

elastic collision process or absorption of

radiation (optical pumping). The removal

of atoms from the energy level Ei is usually ■

by spontaneous transitions from Ex to

lower energy levels.

The existence of methods for selectively

populating E2 and depopulating Ei does not I

guarantee a population inversion between

the two energy levels. Atoms in the energy

level E2 may make spontaneous transitions

to Ei and other energy levels, which tend

to reduce the population of the energy

level E2.

Thus, in order to attain a population

inversion, the rate at which atoms are

excited to E2 must be great enough to

force the population of E2 at equilibrium

to be greater than the population of Ei,

at equilibrium. The probability for spon-

taneous emission tends to increase rapidly |

with decreasing wavelength of the emitted 1

radiation; hence, the rate of pumping

atoms into the level E2 that is required

for population inversion is also increased.

For this reason, most of the lasers that g

have been produced so far have radiated ,

in the infrared portion of the spectrum.

Consider a light wave whose wavelength j

is Ai2 traveling through an active medium

(a volume of matter in which a population jj

inversion exists between energy levels Ei |i

and E2) . The important property of stimu-

lated emission is that a large number of !•

photons are coupled in phase and frequency I

to the incident wave that stimulated their

26

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

emission. The coordinated radiating atoms

in this case are much the same as an array

of radio antennas that produces a direc-

tional radio wave; they produce a light

wave with the same directional properties

as the incident wave. The amplitude of

the stimulated wave then adds to the am-

plitude of the incident wave, since both

waves have the same frequency, phase, and

direction of propagation. In other words,

the incident light wave is coherently ampli-

fied in the active medium.

Of course, the active medium could be

used directly as a simple light amplifier

or image intensifier; however, such appli-

cation is subject to a number of limita-

tions. First, the wavelength of the light to

be amplified must be one for which a light

amplifier can be produced. A light ampli-

fier of this type will respond only to light

in one or more narrow wavelength bands,

about the same as the line width of a

spectral line. Second, the amplification per

centimeter of amplifier length is quite

small in most cases and the amplifier

would need to be quite long. Third, the

most serious difficulty is that spontaneous

transitions from E2 to ET occur rapidly

in the optical region. The spontaneous

emission corresponds to amplifier noise:

the amplified image is superimposed on a

background of light due to spontaneous

emission, whose intensity may be much

greater than the intensity of the image.

III. Oscillators Using Coherent Light

Amplifiers

The most important use of stimulated

optical emission is to obtain coherent am-

plification in an optical frequency oscil-

lator, i.e., a laser in the usual sense. The

construction of a laser is not difficult in

principle, but the details often require

considerable care. To make a laser, one

simply places mirrors at both ends of a

cylindrical volume of light-amplifying

medium. The mirrors must be of high

quality; they should be highly reflecting,

but at least one of them must be slightly

transmitting so that light may be extracted

from the laser. If flat mirrors are used,

they must be made extremely flat (no vari-

ations from a true plane surface of more

than 5 x 10”7 cm *) and they must be

aligned parallel. (The angle of inclination

between the two surfaces should be less

than five seconds of arc.*)

The laser oscillation is triggered by

spontaneous emission of photons with pre-

cisely the right wavelength and direction

of propagation. The light wave travels

through the active medium and is co-

herently amplified by stimulated emission.

When the light strikes the mirror, some

energy is transmitted through the mirror

and some is absorbed or scattered by the

reflecting layer, but most of the light is

reflected back (or fed back) through the

amplifying medium to the other mirror.

If the amplification is greater than the

total losses in a round trip, then the in-

tensity will continue to increase as the

light wave is reflected back and forth

through the amplifying medium. As the

intensity of the wave grows, stimulated

transitions become an important means of

removing atoms from the upper energy

level and populating the lower energy level.

Thus, the equilibrium populations of the

energy levels shift so as to reduce the

amount of the population inversion.

Eventually, the population inversion is re-

duced to an amount where the gain just

balances the loss; in other words, the

amplifier saturates.

The intensity at which saturation occurs

varies from laser to laser, but usually it

is a very high intensity, of orders of mag-

nitude larger than the intensity due to

spontaneous emission.

Amplification by stimulated emission

may occur in a wavelength interval cor-

responding to the width of the spectral

* These are requirements quoted for the

first He-Ne gaseous laser (2), in which the ampli-

fication per unit length is relatively low. The

requirements are not so stringent for a laser with

high amplification.

February, 1963

27

line. However, it is characteristic of os-

cillators that the amplitude of oscillation

is of significant size only in a very small

range about the resonant frequency. In

the case of the laser, the precise wavelength

(or wavelengths) at which oscillation oc-

curs depends on the spacing between the

reflectors. The system of two parallel,

partially reflecting, flat surfaces has long

been used in precision spectroscopy; it is

called a Fabry-Perot interferometer. In

the laser oscillator, the Fabry-Perot inter-

ferometer is equivalent to an optical reso-

nator. The resonant frequencies are those

for which the superimposed segments of the

multiply-reflected wave are all in phase. The

most important resonances are at the wave-

lengths for which the Fabry-Perot condi-

tion for a plane wave perpendicular to the

reflecting surfaces is satisfied : 2L = N A

(A is the wavelength, L is the spacing be-

tween the reflectors, and N is an integer).

Usually, N is a very large number, so

the Fabry-Perot resonances are closely

spaced. The difference in frequency be-

tween two successive Fabry-Perot reso-

nances is Avr = C/2L (c is the velocity

of light and L is the distance between

reflectors). In order to obtain sufficient

amplification, a lower limit must be placed

on the value of L, which, in turn, sets an

upper limit on Avr. It often happens that

Avr must be smaller than the amplifier

bandwidth; in this case, the spectrum of

the laser is composed of several very sharp

spikes. This radiation is not truly mono-

chromatic; but since the width of each

spike is small compared to the separation,

it is presumed possible to isolate one of

the spikes with a suitable filter. In several

cases, laser operation at a single frequency

(monochromatic radiation) has been ob-

tained.

A light wave that propagates in a direc-

tion other than perpendicular to the re-

flecting surfaces will be deflected out of

the laser after a few reflections. Since a

wave must travel back and forth through

the amplifying medium many times to be

amplified to a high intensity, the oblique

radiation makes little contribution to the

output of the laser. The radiation from

the laser is almost entirely in the direction

perpendicular to the reflecting surfaces.

Therefore, the laser beam is collimated ;

this means that the laser beam is composed

of parallel rays and does not spread. (Here

the laser has been assumed to have plane

reflectors. If the laser has concave re-

flectors, the radiation diverges as the radi-

ation from a point source and can be

collimated with an appropriate lens.)

The degree to which light is coherent is

a measure of the wave quality of the light

beam. Spatial coherence may be demon-

strated by the observation of interference

fringes when one portion of a wavefront

is superimposed on another, such as with

a multiple slit. The light from a laser has

been shown to be spatially coherent by

the observation of fringes when a double

slit was placed directly in front of the

laser. Also, interference has been produced

in superimposing the light from one end of

a laser on the light from the other end.

Coherence in time may be demonstrated

by the observation of interference when

one segment of the wave is superimposed

on another, such as in a Michelson inter-

ferometer or a Fabry-Perot interferometer.

This type of coherence is directly related

to the monochromatic quality of the radia

tion.

The coherence of laser radiation has

been demonstrated also in the following

way. The radiation from a laser that is

oscillating at two adjacent Fabry-Perot

resonance frequencies is detected by a

phototube. The current from the photo-

tube is frequency-analyzed and is found

to be modulated at the radio frequency

that is equal to the difference (beat note)

of the two optical frequencies. Javan (3)

extended this technique to demonstrate that

it is also possible to obtain a radiofre-

quency beat note by mixing the outputs

of two separate and independently oscillat-

ing lasers. In addition to determining the

frequency difference of the two lasers to

28

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

high precision, the beat note provides a

convenient means to obtain information

about the line width and frequency sta-

bility of laser oscillations. Also, many

proposed applications of the laser are based

on the coherence that is demonstrated by

the observation of this beat note.

IV. Solid State Lasers

Perhaps the best known laser is the ruby

laser, which was the first to be operated

successfully (4). Ruby is crystalline alumi-

num oxide with an impurity of trivalent

chromium ions; this impurity gives ruby

its red color and is the active element in

the laser. Population inversion in the ruby

is attained by optical pumping; the ground

f state Cr+ + + ions absorb radiation in the

!i green and near-ultraviolet portions of the

spectrum and are excited to several broad

bands of closely spaced energy levels. These

excited Cr+ + + ions promptly decay by

! non-radiative transitions to a narrow

energy band.

[ If the pumping light is sufficiently in-

| tense, the Cr+ + + ions accumulate in this

| | energy level to produce a population inver-

j ' sion. In this particular case, the stimulated

| transition is to the ground state; hence

more than half the Cr+ + + ions must be

| pumped out of the ground state to produce

] a population inversion. Therefore the

threshold intensity of the pumping radia-

tion is very high; so the ruby laser is

s | usually operated in a pulsed fashion.

j The assembled laser is usually a ruby

s rod 5 to 10 cm long and 0.2 to 0.5 cm in

t diameter, placed along the axis of a helical

a j xenon flash tube. The ends of the ruby rod

i. are ground flat and parallel, and the reflect-

J ing coatings are usually applied directly

v to the ruby. The xenon tube is flashed by

i discharging a bank of condensers through

)j it. If the peak intensity of the flash exceeds

it a critical value (threshold intensity), the

ruby rod emits a brief but very intense

S burst of red light; it “lases.”

i The pulsed ruby laser is particularly

ie suited to high power applications; the

o properties of coherence, directionality, and

•5

line width of the ruby laser, while much

better than conventional light sources, do

not match those of some of the other lasers

to be discussed later.

The high power of the ruby laser has

been further increased by modifying the

design. In this modification, one end of

the ruby rod is made non-reflecting, and

a mechanical or electro-optic shutter is

placed between the end of the rod and an

external reflector. The shutter is synchro-

nized with the xenon flash lamp so that it

opens near the end of the pulse of pumping

light; thus the start of laser oscillation can

be delayed until nearly all the Cr+ + + ions

are excited to the upper level of the laser

transition. When the shutter is opened,

the intensity of the stimulated emission in-

creases very rapidly, and the energy stored

by the excited Cr + + + ions is released in

a very short time to produce a laser pulse

of very brief duration and very high power.

(The duration is about a microsecond and

the power is about a megawatt.)

Of course, the laser does not create

energy; in fact, the energy in the laser

pulse is often less than one percent of the

energy used by the xenon flash lamp. The

efficiency of the energy conversion depends

on the geometry of the laser, the quality

of the ruby, and other variable factors.

However inefficiently, the laser converts

energy from one available form to another

which may be more useful. For instance,

if a short focal length lens is placed in

the path of the laser beam, the light can

be focussed to a spot of very small dimen-

sion, since the light beam of the laser is

nearly parallel. One then obtains an enor-

mous power density which burns holes

through razor blades, etc. There are more

practical uses for the focussed laser beam,

such as drilling holes in diamonds and

making spot welds in otherwise inaccessible

or inconvenient places.

Many other solid state lasers have been

developed since the ruby; most of these

are divalent or trivalent rare-earth ions

dilutely dispersed in crystal lattices such

February, 1963

29

as CaW04, CaF2, or SrMo04. Population

inversion in these rare earth lasers is ob-

tained by optical pumping to a broad

energy band followed by rapid decay to

a sharp energy band, just as in the ruby

laser. However, in most of the rare earth

lasers, the lower energy level of the laser

transition is enough above the ground

state that it can be depopulated by cooling

the crystal. Thus, population inversion can

be obtained with lower intensities of pump-

ing radiation, and it should be possible

to operate these lasers continuously. Con-

tinuous operation has already been achieved

for some of them.

V. Gas Lasers

The lasers that employ gaseous media

for coherent amplification differ from the

solid state lasers in several respects. All

gaseous lasers are operated continuously,

but have much lower power outputs (char-

acteristically, about a milliwatt) . The gas

lasers usually have low gain per unit length

and must be about a meter long to obtain

sufficient amplification. While the gas lasers

are inferior to the solid state lasers in

regard to power output, they are superior

in regard to coherence, collimation, and

monochromaticity.

In gas lasers, the population inversion is

generally achieved by means other than

optical pumping. The only gaseous laser

which is optically pumped is the cesium

vapor laser. The line width of the intense

3888 a line in the emission spectrum of

helium overlaps the wavelength of one of

the lines in the absorption spectrum of

cesium vapor. Therefore, cesium atoms

may be excited to a specific energy level

by optical pumping using a helium dis-

charge tube as the light source. Popula-

tion inversions between the energy levels of

several transitions are expected, and laser

oscillation has been observed for one of

these transitions, which has a wavelength

of about 7.18 microns (5).

Population inversions in the other gas

lasers are achieved by various processes

involving inelastic collisions. In the helium-

neon laser, neon atoms are selectively

excited to certain energy levels by transfer

of energy from helium metastable atoms i

to neon atoms in the ground state. The

probability of energy transfer is significant J

only if the neon atom is excited to an

energy level that is very close to the energy

of the helium metastable atom. The energy

level diagram (Figure 1) shows that the 2s

(Paschen notation) energy levels of neon , »

are very close to the 23S (metastable)

energy level of helium. The 2p energy

levels of neon, on the other hand, are con-

siderably lower than the energy level of

the helium metastable atom. Therefore, H

the energy transfer process selectively

excites neon atoms to the 2s energy levels,

and population inversion may be expected

for any of the 30 allowed 2s — 2p transi-

tions. Th us far, laser oscillations have

been observed for 11 of these transitions

(6,7) ; the highest intensity has been ob-

tained for the 2s2 — 2p4 transition, whose > '

wavelength is 11523 a.

Although it is not shown in Figure 1,

there is another helium metastable energy

level and it is very close to the group of

3s energy levels of neon. Thus far, laser

oscillations have been observed for two

transitions whose upper energy level is in i

this group, 3s2 — 2p4 (A = 6328 A) and

3s2 — 3p4 (A = 3.3913 microns).

Laser oscillation has been observed for

the 2s2 — 2p4 transition in a discharge

of pure neon. The intensity of this laser

radiation was considerably less than in

the helium-neon laser, but the observation

of laser oscillation in the pure neon dis-

charge indicated another method of pro-

ducing population inversion, which may

be applicable to discharges in other gases.

In a gas discharge, atoms are excited from

the ground state to higher energy levels

by inelastic collisions with electrons of

sufficient energy. This process of excita-

tion is somewhat selective; most of the

atoms are excited to energy levels from

which radiative transitions to the ground

state are allowed. Also, since this excita-

tion process is ultimately responsible for $

30

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

24.6

He+

25

20

19

ev

18

17

16

19.81

23S

Ne'

21.47

. J_ _2s_2

°f-=r=*"

0.7 d

J-- W.

10

is

“5 16.6

He

Ne

Figure 1. — Energy level diagram of He and Ne atoms. (From J. Opt. Soc. Am. 52, 32 (1962).)

sustaining the discharge, it may have suf-

ficient influence on the equilibrium in the

discharge to produce population inversions.

The rules that determine whether a given

transition is allowed (selection rules) apply

to changes in parity and angular momen-

tum. The selection rule that is most rele-

vant to the population inversion in the

neon discharge restricts transitions accord-

j ing to changes in Z, the orbital angular

momentum quantum number of the excited

| electron. In the energy level diagram of

neon (Figure 1), the letters (s and p)

| classify the atomic energy levels according

to the value of l; s, p. d, and f correspond

to Z equal to 0, 1, 2. and 3.

February. 1963

E5

According to the selection rule, only

transitions in which Z changes by plus or

minus one are allowed. Therefore, since

the valence electrons of neon are in a

p(Z = 1) shell, transitions between the

ground state and excited states are allowed

only for s(Z = 0) and d(Z = 2) excited

states.

There are a number of processes which

compete with the selective excitation to s

and d states by electron impact and tend

to prevent population inversion. However,

the most obvious of these competing

processes, spontaneous transition directly

back to the ground state, has little effect

on the equilibrium, since the spontaneous

31

emission is readily absorbed by the atoms

in the ground state which are present in

great abundance. The most important

processes involved in the equilibrium of

the 2s2 population are selective excitation

by electron impact and spontaneous transi-

tions to the 2p levels. The most important

processes in the equilibrium of the 2p4

population are spontaneous transitions to

the Is levels, spontaneous transitions from

higher levels, and inelastic collisions of

electrons with atoms in the Is levels. ( Since

Is are the lowest excited states and the

spontaneous emission due to spontaneous

transitions to the ground state is too readily

absorbed, the Is levels are effectively

metastable and hence relatively highly

populated.) The operation of the pure neon

laser first demonstrated that population

inversion can be produced by electron im-

pact excitation. The possible wide ap-

plicability of this method has been demon-

strated by obtaining laser oscillations for

22 xenon transitions, eight krypton transi-

tions, four argon transitions, and two other

neon transitions (8) . In the helium-neon

laser, excitation of neon atoms by energy

transfer from metastable helium atoms

provides an additional means of selectively

exciting the neon atoms to the 2s and 3s

levels without directly affecting the 2p

populations, thus increasing the 2s2 — 2p4

population inversion and producing the

other 2s — 2p, 3s — 2p, 3s — 3p popula-

tion inversions.

Still another method of producing popu-

lation inversion is that of the neon-oxygen

laser — dissociative excitation transfer. This

method is similar to that of the He — Ne

laser, but in this case the coincidence of

the energy levels does not need to be so

close. A neon metastable atom collides

inelastically with a diatomic oxygen

molecule; the resulting excited oxygen

molecule is unstable and immediately dis-

sociates into an excited oxygen atom and

an oxygen atom in the ground state. This

laser produces oscillation at a wavelength

of 8446 A (8,9).

VI. Research and Applications

Much of the past and current laser re-

search has been directed toward developing

new laser materials and improving existing ^

lasers. An interesting exception has been ic

the generation of optical harmonics, which 1

had been proposed earlier, but was not id

observed in the pre-laser era because the ><

intensity of light from existing sources was I

inadequate. However, when the light from I

a high-power laser (such as the ruby laser) (

passes through certain asymmetric types of I

crystals, the light emerging from the crystal y

contains some light whose wavelength is

half the wavelength of the incident radia- ,

tion (second harmonic) (10). More re- i

cently, production of the third harmonic

also has been observed.

Much of the motivation for the devel- l|

opment of lasers is the potential use of i

lasers in communications. The light waves i

produced by lasers have several advantages ]

over radio waves as carriers in certain

kinds of communication. For long distance q

communication (interplanetary, etc.), the il

advantage of the laser beam is that it is

highly directional; hence, information q

could be sent over very long distances fl

with relatively low-power transmitters. The i f

angular divergence of the beam from a

helium-neon laser has been measured to .

be about 32 seconds, or 1.5 x 10~4 radians,

which could be further reduced by sending } t

the beam backwards through a telescope.

Another advantage is that the high fre-

quency (up to 5 x 1014 cycles/sec) of the

laser radiation greatly increases the in-

formation-carrying capacity. It has been

stated that a laser beam with a modulation

bandwidth of 100,000 megacycles could j

carry as much information as all the radio-

communication channels now in existence m

(11). One of the problems to be solved is I

to find means for producing and detecting .i

modulation at such high frequencies.

At the National Bureau of Standards, the fl

gas laser is being considered for use as f !

a standard light source for interferometric h

measurement of distance. (The procedure*

32

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

, for interferometric distance measurement

( is to count the number of times the inten-

| sity at the center of the interference pattern

in a Michelson interferometer passes

, through a maximum as one of the mirrors

is moved from one position to another.

The distance moved by the mirror is one-

3 half the number of maxima counted times

the wavelength of the light producing the

1 interference.) Using conventional light

1 sources, it is difficult to observe fringes

j when the difference in path length for the

two parts of the divided beam is greater

e than 50 cm; with the intensity, coherence,

, and monochromaticity of the laser radia-

g tion, it is possible (in principle, at least)

to obtain interference with path length

differences of many kilometers. Another

e i advantage of the laser as a light source

is for interferometry is that most of the area

ic | of the circular fringe pattern will be oc-

e ! cupied by the central maximum, since the

beam is so highly directional, which sim-

plifies the use of automatic “fringe

counters.”

At NBS. interference has been obtained

in a Michelson interferometer with a path

length difference of 100 meters, using the

He — Ne gas laser of Figure 2 (after mod-

ifications) as the light source. This He-

Ne laser is similar to the one described

by Rigrod et al. (12). It is a confocal

reflector type, with the radius of curvature

of the reflectors and spacing between them

equal to one meter. The reflectors are

multilayer dielectric films with peak reflect-

ance (about 99 per cent) at 11523 A.

The windows at the ends of the discharge

tube are sealed on at Brewster’s angle,

so light with the proper polarization is

transmitted through the windows without

reflection losses. The discharge tube con-

tains 1 mm Hg of helium and 1/10 mm Hg

of neon, and is excited by power from a

February, 1963

33

radio transmitter applied to external elec-

trodes.

The purpose of the iris diaphragms,

which are located between the reflectors

and the ends of the discharge tube, is to

obtain monochromatic operation of the

laser. The apertures are reduced until the

diffraction losses become large enough to

limit oscillation to the Fabry-Perot reso-

nance frequency nearest the peak of the

spectral line. The laser is mounted on a

large, heavy surface plate to reduce fluctu-

ations of the reflector spacing due to vibra-

tion and temperature fluctuations.

One of the problems to be solved, if

lasers are to realize the full potential of

their monochromatic quality, is that of

stability and adjustment to a precise wave-

length. Javan has reported that the line

width of the radiation from a He — Ne laser,

whose frequency is about 2.6 x 1014

cycles/sec, is less than 2 cycles/sec (3).

To obtain stability comparable to this line

width, the length of a meter-long laser

would have to be held constant to within

10-12 cm. (For comparison, the size of an

atom is about 10“8 cm.) To obtain this

stability, the temperature of a fused quartz

spacer would have to be held constant

within 2 x 1CT8 degrees centigrade. For-

tunately, such high precision and stability

are not required for most of the proposed

applications of lasers. Currently available

techniques (8) make it feasible to control

the frequency of oscillation to about one

part in 109, which is sufficient for most

applications.

There are many potential applications

for lasers in research and technology; no

attempt will be made to describe, or even

mention, all the proposed applications. A

partial list of the kinds of applications in

which lasers might be useful includes opti-

cal pumping, Raman spectra, photolysis,

interferometry, high-speed photography,

and seismology. Perhaps the best indi-

cation of the scope of laser applicability is

the number of companies that have entered

(or have their eye on) the laser market

(13).

References

(1) A. L. Schawlow and C. H. Townes. Infrared

and optical masers. Phys. Rev. 112, 1940 (1958).

(2) Donald R. Herriott. Continuous helium-

neon optical maser. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 52, 31 (1962 ) .

(3) A. Javan, E. A. Ballik, and W. L. Bond.

Frequency characteristics of a continuous-wave

He-Ne optical maser. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 52, 96

(1962).

(4) T. H. Maiman. Stimulated optical radia-

tion in ruby. Nature 187, 493 (1960).

(5) P. Rabinowitz, S. Jacobs, and G. Gould.

Continuous optically pumped Cs laser. Appl. Opt.

1, 513 (1962).

(6) A. Javan, W. R. Bennett, Jr., and D. R.

Herriott. Population inversion and continuous

optical maser oscillation in a discharge contain-

ing a He-Ne mixture. Phys. Rev. Letters 6, 106

(1961).

(7) R. A. McFarlane, C. K. N. Patel, W. R.

Bennett, Jr., and W. L. Faust. New helium-neon

optical maser transitions. Proc. Inst. Radio Engrs.

50, 2112 (1962).

(8) W. R. Bennett, Jr. Gaseous optical masers.

Applied Optics, Supplement on Optical Masers,

p. 24 (1962).

(9) W. R. Bennett, Jr., W. L. Faust, R. A.

McFarlane, and C. K. N. Patel. Dissociative ex-

citation transfer and optical maser oscillations in

Ne-02 and A-02 r.f. discharges. Phys. Rec.

Letters 8, 470 (1962)

(10) P. A. Franken, A. E. Hill, C. W. Peters,

and G. Weinrich. Phys. Rev. Letters 7, 118

(1961)

(11) Arthur L. Schawlow. Optical masers,

Scientific American 204, 52 (June 1961).

(12) W. W. Rigrod, H. Kogelnik, D. J. Bran-

gaccio, and D. R. Herriott. Gaseous optical maser

with concave mirrors, J. App. Phys. 33, 743

(1962).

(13) Anon. Lasers attract chemical interest.

Chem. Eng. News 40, 52 (Dec. 31. 1962) .

34

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

National Science Foundation

Fellowships for Scientific

Study Abroad

Thomas D. Fontaine

Head , Fellowships Section , Scientific Personnel and Education Division , NSF

“Perhaps more than any other national

activity, scientific research and develop-

ment depends upon close relationships with

other countries.” Thus wrote Vannevar

Bush in his 1945 report to the President

on a program for postwar scientific re-

search.

To achieve maximum effectiveness in the

training of scientific manpower, the United

States must provide opportunities for

limited numbers of developing scientists to

study in countries foreign to their own.

Private foundations have played a major

role in this area in the past. To their as-

sistance, which should continue, has been

added in recent years fellowship support

by such Federal agencies as the Depart-

ment of State, National Institutes of Health,

and the National Science Foundation

(NSF) . My purpose is to focus attention

on the role of NSF in this field.

NSF Fellowship Programs

The National Science Foundation Act of

1950, as amended, states, “The Foundation

is authorized to award . . . fellowships for

scientific study or scientific work in the

mathematical, physical, medical, biological,

engineering, and other sciences at appro-

priate nonprofit American or nonprofit

foreign institutions selected by the recipient

of such aid, for stated periods of time.”

This authorization was limited to U.S.

citizens and nationals. In 1959 the Act was

amended to provide fellowships also to

foreign nationals for scientific study or

work in the United States.

Eight fellowship programs are now sup-

ported by NSF, as follows:

1. Graduate fellowships for the training

of American graduate students at home or

abroad.

2. Cooperative graduate fellowships for

the training of American graduate students

at home, and abroad under certain condi-

tions.

3. Summer fellowships for training

American graduate teaching assistants at

home.

4. Postdoctoral fellowships for advanced

training of American research scientists at

home or abroad.

5. Senior postdoctoral fellowships for

additional advanced training of American

research scientists at home or abroad.

6. Science faculty fellowships for re-

fresher or additional training at home or

abroad of American college teachers of

science, mathematics, and engineering.

7. Summer fellowships for additional

training at home of American secondary

school teachers of science and mathematics.

8. Senior foreign scientist fellowships to

enable outstanding foreign scientists to

study or work in U.S. institutions.

The number of applicants for fellowships

in the foregoing programs, and the number

of awards offered from the beginning

through June 1962. are given in Table 1.

February. 1963

35

I lie programs are listed in order of estab-

lishment.

Table 1. — Number oj Applicants and

Awards Offered Through Fiscal Year 1962

in NSF Fellowship Programs Since Fiscal

Year of Inauguration

The financial support of NSF fellow-

ship programs has risen from $1.45 mil-

lion in 1952 to nearly $17 million in 1962.

It is anticipated that approximately $21.5

million will be spent in fiscal year 1963

for support of approximately 4,500 in-

dividuals under the foregoing fellowship

programs.

NSF Fellowships Permitting Study

Abroad

Graduate Fellowships. About three of

every four NSF fellowships awarded since

1952 have gone to graduate students to

enable them to complete their studies in

science, mathematics, and engineering with

the greatest possible effectiveness and dis-

patch. The Foundation has emphasized

these graduate level programs to provide

means for developing the numbers and

kinds of well-trained scientists required by

the nation’s industries and research lab-

oratories, Government laboratories, and in-

stitutions of higher education. Over the

vears, the level of support has been be-

tween one and two per cent of the number

of graduate students in the natural sciences,

mathematics, and engineering. The dis-

tribution of applicants and awards by

major fields of study is given in Table 2.

Table 2. — Distribution by Major Fields oj

Study of Applicants and Awards Offered

in the Graduate and Cooperative Graduate

Fellowship Programs — Fiscal Years 1952

Through 1962

Major field of study Applicants Awards offered

Number Percent

Chemistry 10,585 2,885 27

Physics 10,136 3,286 33

Life sciences 13,567 3,424 25

Mathematics 6,632 2,054 31

Engineering 9,145 2,675 29

Other fields 4,430 964 22

Because awards are made on the basis

of ability, and particular fields of study

are not shown preference, the number of

awards made in each field is related to the

number of applicants, about one in four

being successful in all fields.

In fiscal year 1962, 10,079 individuals

applied in the two graduate-level programs

and 2,961 awards were made. Of the total

applicants and awards, 5,961 and 1,761.

respectively, were in the graduate program

and 4,118 and 1.200 in the cooperative

graduate program.

A few cooperative graduate fellows may

spend a portion or all of their fellowship

tenure on field work at foreign institutions,

but in doing so they remain under the re-

sponsibility of U.S. institutions. In the

graduate program, however, fellows may

affiliate directly with foreign institutions of

their choice, and 33 awardees made such

a selection in fiscal year 1962. Of these,

18 chose one of three institutions in Eng-

land: each of the remaining 15 chose a

different institution — 5 in Germany, 2 in

Canada, and 1 each in Australia, Denmark.

Israel, the Netherlands, Norway , and

Switzerland. In general, graduate fellows

studying abroad — less than 2 per cent of

award recipients- — tend to concentrate at

English and German institutions, but in

each case the choice of institution is based

mainly on the particular unique type of

training offered.

Postdoctoral Fellowships. Of the first

two fellowship programs instituted by the

foundation in 1952. one was the regular

36

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

postdoctoral program. These fellowships

provide support to individuals with doc-

torates in science, mathematics, or engi-

neering who need and are qualified for

additional advanced training preparatory

to work in a specialized scientific field. To

give persons receiving the doctorate in

early summer or the mid-year an equal op-

portunity to begin postdoctoral reseach as

quickly as possible after attainment of the

degree, a competition is held in late sum-

mer for announcing awards in early fall,

and a second competition is conducted in

mid-winter for March awards.

In recent years, in all fields of science,

it has become increasingly important to

continue research training beyond the Ph.D.

degree. The most compelling reason for

postdoctoral study is the time required to

master the subject matter, which is grow-

ing constantly in amount. As a leading

mathematician has stated it, the recipient

of a Ph.D. today has had, in effect, a

general education in his subject; he still

needs the specialization that postdoctoral

work can provide. The number of persons

embarking upon postdoctoral studies — both

recent Ph.D.’s and more mature scholars —

has multiplied noticeably in the past 15

years, especially in the sciences. The

fellowships offered for study and research

at this level by the Federal government

through the National Science Foundation

and the National Institutes of Health have

contributed substantially to this develop-

ment and, additionally, have helped to pro-

mote recognition in academic circles of the

importance of postdoctoral training.

After a few years of operation, an

analysis of the applicants in the regular

postdoctoral program — intended primarily

for recent Ph.D.’s — showed that a need

also existed for a fellowship program for

scientists who had already demonstrated

superior accomplishments in special fields.

Therefore, in 1956. the Foundation insti-

tuted a senior postdoctoral program, open

to U.S. scientists who at the time of apply-

ing have held a Ph.D. or equivalent degree

for at least five years. These fellowships

provide opportunities for established sci-

entists to become even more proficient in

their respective specialties by studying or

doing research, during sabbatical leave

period or otherwise, in outstanding labora-

tories and by close and continuous asso-

ciation with others who are in the forefront

of their fields of research. Because of

their senior status and in recognition of

the fixed financial obligations that such

status invariably entails, the Foundation

established in this program a “salary-

matching” stipend, which is adjusted to

take into account other support expected

during the period of fellowship tenure.

Applications are accepted throughout the

summer and early fall; the closing date

is normally in October, and the awards

are announced in December.

Selection of fellows in these two post-

doctoral programs is made on the basis of

ability. No preferential treatment is ac-

corded any particular field of study. Table

3 gives, for several of the major fields of

study supported by the Foundation, the

ratio of regular plus senior awards offered

during the entire period of operation of

each program, to the combined number of

applicants.

Table 3. — Distribution by Major Fields oj

Study of Applicants and Awards Offered in

Two Postdoctoral Programs — Fiscal Years

1952 through 1962

Major field of study Applicants Awards offered

Number Percent

It is clear from even a cursory reading

of the final reports of postdoctoral NSF

fellows that these awards are accomplish-

ing their principal objective. These fel-

lowships have opened opportunities for

more than 1,900 scientists of outstanding

ability to advance their research training

and acquire essential additional speciali-

zation in their chosen fields of science.

But both programs do more than just this.

February, 1963

37

A high percentage of postdoctoral NSF

fellows affiliate with world-famous foreign

institutions while on tenure. If one ac-

cepts the premise that close cooperation

between U.S. scientists and their foreign

colleagues, through an exchange of ideas

and scientific information, strengthens the

science potential of the United States, then

the postdoctoral fellowships utilized abroad

have additional significance.

In fiscal year 1962, 897 individuals ap-

plied in the regular postdoctoral program

and 245 were offered awards, of whom 132

(55 percent) chose foreign institutions.

Of these, 55 chose 15 institutions in Eng-

land; 16 went to 11 institutions in Ger-

many; 14 to 8 institutions in France; 11

to 4 institutions in Switzerland; and 6

to 2 institutions in Israel. Five each

went to Denmark and Sweden; 4 to Scot-

land; 2 each to Belgium, India, and Nor-

way; and one each to Canada, Italy, Japan,

Spain, Uganda, and Wales.

In fiscal year 1962, 270 individuals ap-

plied in the senior postdoctoral program

and 92 were offered awards, of whom 75

(82 percent) chose foreign institutions. Of

these, 20 chose 9 institutions in England;

12 went to 10 institutions in France; 7

to 3 institutions in Israel; 7 to 3 insti-

tutions in Switzerland; and 5 to 4 institu-

tions in Italy. Four each went to Germany

and the Netherlands; 3 each to Australia

and Denmark; 2 each to Austria, Belgium,

and Sweden; and one each to Madagascar,

New Zealand, Norway, and Spain.

Science Faculty Fellowships. By increas-

ing through fellowship support the oppor-

tunities for study and research in the

sciences, the Foundation provides an in-

ducement to individuals of superior intel

lectual capacity to enter graduate school.

It also encourages by its fellowships these

students and other persons talented in

science to continue their training to the

highest reaches of which they are capable.

By and large, however, it is the under-

graduate teacher who is in the best posi-

tion to motivate able students to obtain their

doctorate and pursue science as a career.

Thus, the presence of stimulating and

challenging teachers of science on our

undergraduate campuses is of prime im-

portance to the production of future

scientists.

A teacher must know his subject matter

well if he is to stimulate the latent in-

terests and abilities of his students. Be-

cause of the remarkable expansion in

volume and rate of scientific discoveries in

the past two decades, many college teachers

have found it extremely difficult, along

with their other duties, to keep abreast of

new developments in their fields. Still

others were drawn into teaching with too

little training to begin with, and conse-

quently lack a rounded educational and

scientific background. The Foundation de-

cided in 1957 that the best immediate

answer to this problem was a fellowship

program especially designed to enable col-

lege teachers of science, mathematics, and

engineering to improve their competence

as teachers by means of additional ad-

vanced study in their subject matter fields.

It therefore instituted in that year the sci-

ence faculty fellowship program.

The primary objective of this program

is to improve the standards of college-level

instruction — first, by affording opportuni-

ties for refresher training to those teachers

who, despite a background of education

which at one time was adequate, have lost

touch with recent developments in science:

and second, by providing inadequately

trained college teachers of science with

opportunities to obtain a better under-

standing and knowledge of the subject mat-

ter they teach. In addition, a Federal

program of this kind helps to focus greater

attention upon the national importance of

encouraging, recognizing, and rewarding

high competence in teaching.

As in other Foundation fellowship pro-

grams, no particular field of study has

received preferential treatment in the se-

lection of science faculty award recipients.

The percentage of awards offered to the

total number of applicants over the years

has been 33.6 per cent across all fields; the

38

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

percentages in several of the major fields

of science supported by the Foundation are

given in Table 4.

Table 4. — Distribution by Major Fields of

Study of Applicants and Awards Offered in

Science Faculty Program — Fiscal Years

1957 through 1962

Major field of study Applicants Awards offered

Number Percent

Chemistry 573 189 33

Physics 451 150 33.3

Life sciences 1,103 329 29.8

Mathematics 885 301 34

Engineering 1,136 456 40.1

Other fields 358 88 24.6

In fiscal year 1962, 864 individuals ap-

plied in the science faculty program and

325 were offered awards, of whom 32 (10

per cent) chose foreign institutions. Of

these, 17 chose 5 institutions in England;

5 chose 5 institutions in Germany; 4 chose

3 institutions in Sweden; 2 chose one

institution in Switzerland; and one each

went to Canada, India, the Netherlands,

and Norway.

Senior Foreign Scientist Fellowships.

Under the authority granted the National

Science Foundation in Public Law 507, as

amended by the Act of September 8, 1959.

the Foundation may, with the approval of

the Secretary of State, undertake programs

granting fellowships to, or making other

similar arrangements with, foreign nation-

als for scientific study or scientific work in

the United States.

In fiscal year 1963 the National Science

Foundation inaugurated a new fellowship

program for senior scientists of foreign

nationality. The program will enable out-

standing foreign scientists to spend an ex-

tended period of time at U.S. institutions

of higher education where they will share

their learning with, and provide intel-

lectual stimulation to, graduate students

and members of the science faculty, thereby

enriching graduate science training in the

United States and enlarging the scientific

research potential of this country. At an

estimated cost of $500,000, approximately

40 awards will be granted in the mathe-

matical, physical, biological, and engineer-

ing sciences, and interdisciplinary fields

comprised of two or more of these sciences.

In this new fellowship program, the

Foundation will have the U.S.-participat-

ing institutions nominate those foreign

applicants who will compete for awards;

any application without an endorsement of

a participating institution will not be con-

sidered.

Fellowships Administered by the Na-

tional Science Foundation for

International Agencies

In addition to its own fellowship pro-

grams, the Foundation has been adminis-

tering two fellowship programs, whose

financial support is provided hy organi-

zations concerned with international co-

operation— the North Atlantic Treaty Or-

ganization (NATO) and the Organization

for Economic Cooperation and Develop-

ment (OECD).

NATO Postdoctoral Fellowships in Sci-

ence. These fellowships are awarded to

citizens of the United States mainly for

study in NATO countries. Each NATO

country administers the NATO fellowships

for its own nationals. The National Sci-

ence Foundation, in administering this

program on behalf of the U.S. Department

of State, is responsible for the final selec-

tion of fellows. Approximately 50 U.S.

scientists study abroad under this program

each year. A shift of scheduling of the

competition in calendar year 1963 to a

fall award period appears likely.

OECD Senior Visiting Fellowships.

These fellowships have permitted institu-

tions in the United States to send senior

scientists, mathematicians, or engineers on

their staffs to study new techniques and

developments at advanced research and

educational institutions located primarily

in the OECD member countries.

Only a limited number of awards has

been available in the past, and the sched-

uling of the program is dependent upon the

firm allocation of funds by OECD to a

national center — the National Science

Foundation in the United States.

February, 1963

39

Some Observations on NSF Fellow-

ship Programs in Action Abroad

In fiscal year 1963, as in 1962, it is

estimated that about 275 U.S. scientists will

study abroad under the provisions of Na-

tional Science Foundation fellowships, for

which the Foundation will obligate approxi-

mately $1.5 million dollars. The general

pattern of distribution of NSF fellows is

expected to be about the same as in earlier

years, but with varying numbers in each

country.

Each year, institutions in England at-

tract the greatest number of NSF fellows;

but in respect to institution involvement,

Germany leads the list, with almost as

many fellowship institutions as fellows in

each program. English institutions attract

NSF fellows in many broad fields, but the

number of fellows in each of four fields,

in descending order, is as follows: physics,

chemistry, engineering, and mathematics.

In Germany, the pattern is chemistry,

physics, mathematics, and engineering; in

France, mathematics, physics, chemistry,

and engineering; in Switzerland, Denmark,

and the Netherlands, physics, chemistry,

engineering, and life sciences. In coun-

tries like Australia, Madagascar, Kenya,

and Uganda, the major field interests ap-

pear to be anthropology and genetics.

Before an award recipient may activate

his fellowship abroad, the Foundation re-

quires, as a matter of record, a letter from

the foreign host institution indicating its

willingness to accept the individual and

provide space, equipment, etc., for him to

carry out his fellowship program. Since

the Foundation instituted this requirement,

the very warm welcome with which NSF

fellows are received abroad has become

apparent. It also has become apparent

that NSF fellows choose to be associated

with many of the world authorities in their

respective fields. For example, as the new

Nobel prizewinners are announced each

year, our records are likely to show that

NSF fellows are currently studying and

working in their laboratories. Such are

the opportunities afforded U.S. scientists

through NSF fellowships — to be in the

advancing frontiers of science.

In September 1962, I had the pleasure

of meeting with about 80 NSF fellows

studying in France, Switzerland, Italy,

Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and England,

and a number of their scientific advisers

and associates. These visits were scheduled

in such a way as to bring me in contact

with NSF fellows in each program, at in-

stitutions with many fellows and at those

with only one. On first hand observation,

it seemed to me that fellows were being

accorded excellent opportunities to carry

out their fellowship programs, to grow in

scientific stature, and to associate with

visiting scientists from other countries. In

a number of cases it was obvious that NSF

fellows were considered to be vital to the

accomplishment of a particular basic scien-

tific objective, while others were receiving

valuable training in fields of specialization

which on their return to the U.S. would

enrich U.S. science directly through re-

search or improved teaching, or both.

NSF fellows (and families), however,

have their problems. Appropriate housing

is difficult to arrange for in advance;

children must be entered in foreign school

systems (many to have a traumatic but

wonderful year of schooling with instruc-

tion in a language other than English) ;

and wives have to learn a somewhat differ-

ent way of shopping and must adjust to

new social conditions and customs.

There is not very much the Foundation

can do to assist in these adjustments, except

to advise fellows that they should try to

anticipate these problems. To the extent

that it will be helpful, the Foundation is

now providing each fellow who is studying

or planning to study abroad, with a list

of all fellows on tenure or planning to

begin tenure at his and other fellowship

institutions abroad. The first list was dis-

tributed in August 1962, and appears to

have fulfilled a particular need.

With the current number of NSF fellows

studying abroad, it has become abundantly

clear that closer ties need to be established

with the Department of State scientific

40

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

attaches, and with cultural attaches in those

countries where there is not now a scien-

tific attache. Accordingly, the list of NSF

fellows studying or planning to study

abroad has been made available to them,

and revised lists will be supplied from

time to time. Each scientific attache visited

in September expressed particular interest

in, and need for, such a list. For example,

one attache remarked that the Ambassador

was particularly interested in science, and

each year invited the leading scientists in

the country to dinner. On such occasions,

it became the attache’s responsibility to

locate, if possible, senior U.S. scientists

who might also be invited.

In the October 1962 issue of Science,

D. S. Greenberg discussed ‘‘Science and

Foreign Affairs: New Effort Under Way

to Enlarge Roles of Scientists in Policy

Planning.” He wrote, “It would be heresy

today to deny that science should be con-

sidered in the formulation of foreign policy.

At the same time, there is no abundance of

accomplished scientists willing to put their

careers aside, if only temporarily, for the

strange world of the diplomatic service.”

Scientists are accoustomed to dealing with

“strange worlds,” and it is hard to believe

that “accomplished scientists” will not ans-

wer the call to service when the need for

them has been established. Indeed, if the

diplomat is willing to accept Greenberg’s

statement that “A scientist at his elbow is

the mark of the statesman who recognizes

that the laboratory has become a decisive

force in the world,” then the scientist is

prepared to march shoulder to shoulder

with him into the international fray.

Granted that there is no easy way to develop

a training ground for the type of people

needed by our nation in this field, I sub-

mit that NSF and other fellows may be a

reservoir worthy of investigation, for they

are carefully selected on the basis of their

demonstrated and potential scientific abil-

ity and have completed their fellowship

tenure in foreign countries. Two desirable

ingredients are present — scientific compe-

tence and established personal associations

in a foreign country — and some knowledge

of the people and their language appears

likely. I am confident that scientists will

meet all their international challenges.

THE BROWNSTONE TOWER

On January 9

there appeared on

the front page of

the W ashinglon

Post a story by

Nate Haselt ine on

a kind of inebria-

tion in persons

who had been

given experimen-

tally large doses of

tryptophane in orange juice. When science

writing was very young, this story either

would not have made the front page, or

if it had it would have been treated with

ridicule or presented as having great sig-

nificance for the cure of disease. Times

have changed, and Nate played the story as

straight as the authors themselves might

have done if they had had his experience

and skill in making a scientific investiga-

tion understandable and interesting to lay-

men. He made only one speculation; i.e.,

“The results suggest that amino acid im-

balances in body chemistry might be a

cause of some mental disorders,” a modest

and sensible hypothesis.

Who is this Nate Haseltine (pronounced

Hazelteen) whose by-line has appeared in

the Post since 1946? I thought it would be

an interesting experience to find out — to

interview an interviewer. Moreover, Nate

has been a member of the Washington

Academy of Sciences for a number of

years, yet is known to few of its members

except as a name. 1 wanted to introduce

him to you, since his work and family do

not permit him to attend meetings of the

Academy or to serve on its Journal or com-

mittees. Therefore I made a date with him

for lunch and arranged to meet him at his

desk in the Post building at 1515 L St.,

N.W. I had expected to find him in a

cubicle, but instead he sat at a simple

typist’s desk among dozens of other simi-

February, 1963

41

lar desks on the open floor of the City

Room. Here he reads journals, keeps a

small file of information and a few refer-

ence books, and writes most of his stories.

One would never guess from his modest

demeanor and his uncarpeted, unwindowed,

and crowded environment that he has any

more status than a GS-5 clerk in an inner

ring of the Pentagon. And yet, my friends,

he is a gentleman of distinction, the cur-

rent president of the National Association

of Science Writers and a winner, in 1953,

of the AAAS-Westinghouse Award.

We walked around the corner to the

Brush and Palate (sic) for lunch, I full

of curiosity about how one becomes a

professional science writer. I do not know

whether Nate’s progression is typical, but

he started at the very bottom, a Philadel-

phia boy deprived of college education by

the Great Depression. He was willing to

work at anything, anywhere, anytime, at

any wages. In 1931, when he was 20, he

became by chance an assistant to the

librarian of the Philadelphia Evening,

Ledger and was paid $9.11 per week. (That

doesn’t deserve an exclamation point; in

1916 I worked for the Philadelphia Com-

mercial Museum for $5.00 per week!)

While copy boys were getting opportuni-

ties to serve as reporters, he was passed

over until he persuaded the managing edi-

tor to try him out. The boy made good in

all kinds of reporting and discovered that

he enjoyed covering medical conventions.

He did not enjoy World War II until it

was nearly over, when he was selected to

attend the Biarritz Army University in

France. After emerging from this univer-

sity and the Army, he came to Washington

in June 1946 as a general assignment re-

porter for the Washington Post. Soon he

advanced to rewriteman, and in 1949 the

Post prevented him from moving to an-

other newspaper by making him its science

writer, with the privilege of considerable

freedom in the scheduling of his work.

So during the past 13 years Nate has

learned science and science writing on the

job. He had always preferred the medical

sciences, and during recent years he has

been permitted to specialize in the life

sciences, leaving the physical sciences to

another reporter, Howard Simons, 1962

winner of the AAAS-Westinghouse award.

I asked Nate if he thinks it possible for

a reporter to write a story on a scientific

subject that he himself does not under-

stand. He thinks so, but neither advocates

nor practices it. For example, he knows

well the lingo of “cracking the genetic

code,” but he has not yet written on the

subject because he does not feel that he

understands it thoroughly. Apparently lu-

cid explanations by specialists become

opaque by the time he gets back to his

typewriter.

Nate does not do all his work at his own

manual typewriter; he is to be found in

the press room of the larger national meet-

ings, e.g., AAAS, Federation, ACS, AIBS,

and AMA. Through the year he averages

more than one story a day, not all appear-

ing under his by-line. Nearly all of his

professional writing is published by the

W ashington Post , and some of it is used

also by other newspapers with which the

Post is affiliated. He does not keep a

scrapbook of his published stories, for he

depends upon his memory and the Post's

indexes to find what he wants.

Science writing has its ethics, which

alone would make an interesting story. I

can give only an illustration of how one

problem was handled by Nate. Having the

privilege last year of visiting the marine

laboratory of the University of Washing-

ton at Friday Harbor, he learned there

that giant muscle fibers had been discov-

ered by Graham Hoyle and Thomas Smyth,

Jr., in a barnacle. He could not use the

story because the work had not yet been !

published. He was told that it was sched- !

uled for publication in Science in the

issue of January 4, and he planned to use

it immediately thereafter. However, the

work was presented at the recent meetings

of the AAAS. at which Nate was present. 1

Thus it became public information and I

could have been used by any reporter

42

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

present. Nate alone chose to use it, having

been apprised of its significance at the

source. As he was released from his pledge

to follow Science , the first published an-

nouncement of giant muscle fibers in Ba-

lanus nubilus Darwin appeared in the

W ashington Post!

When it seems desirable and he has time,

Nate consults the authors of scientific

articles that he chooses to report. He does

not, however, send his copy to them for

review prior to publication, nor do they

receive clippings from him after publica-

tion. A reporter’s life is much too busy for

such amenities.

Anyone wishing to identify Nate will

find a happy picture of him on page 8 of

the September 1962 issue of the Newsletter

of the National Association of Science

Writers. And on pages 9 and 10 following

is a more detailed and intimate biography

than I have given here.

Finally, let it be known, but for his sake

forgotten, that Nate was christened Nathan

Stone Haseltine, Junior.

— Frank L. Campbell

EDITORIAL COMMENT

• At the Board of Managers meeting of

January 8, only one candidate was pre-

sented for Second Reading and consequent

election to fellowship in the Academy. There

were no candidates for First Reading.

This dearth of candidates constitutes no

reflection on the Membership Committee,

which within our memory has built up an

enviable reputation for hard work and

devotion to duty. The Committee’s job is

to process applications received: the gen-

eration of applications is up to the member-

ship.

Despite the best of intentions, it is easy

enough to become forgetful of the Acad-

emy’s needs under the pressure of daily

affairs. We share the failing. But we’d

like to reform to the extent, say, of attempt-

ing once each quarter to single out a likely

prospect for fellowship, selling him on the

merits of belonging to the Academy, find-

ing an application form, filling it out, and

passing it along to the Membership Com-

mittee. If a hundred colleagues would join

us in this resolution, we could in a short

space immeasurably increase the Academy’s

effectiveness in representing the scientific

fraternity of the Washington area.

• When the Academy’s secretary, in mid-

December, mailed out to the membership

the ballots for election of officers and

ratification of the Bylaws changes, he in-

structed the voters (1) to place the ballots

in an inner ballot envelope, and (2) to

sign the outer mailing envelope in which

the ballot envelope was to be returned to

the Academy office.

Compliance with these instructions was

complicated by the fact that — because of

one of those monumental booboos that can

occur when two firms are involved in a

mailing — there was no ballot envelope.

This situation undoubtedly placed con-

siderable strain on the secretary’s tradi-

tionally even disposition. The tellers, how-

ever, were provided with some free but

thought-provoking and perhaps statistically

significant data on the Scientific Mind at

Work.

In all, 279 ballots were returned (from

24 percent of the membership) ; 88 per-

cent of them were from resident active

members. They may be divided into Group

I (the Conscientious Ones) and Group II

(the Carefree Ones).

Group I contained 121 voters who fol-

lowed the instruction to sign the outer mail-

ing envelope. Of these, 79 (65 percent)

tried also to follow the instruction about

the inner ballot envelope. Accordingly,

perhaps visualizing the summary invalida-

tion of their ballots by a crew of hard-

hearted tellers, they hunted up their own

ballot envelopes, ranging from coin en-

velopes on up. As an added precaution,

these returns were generally accompanied

by advice of the lack of a regular ballot

envelope; at least one voter, however,

apologized for having lost his envelope.

The remaining 42 voters in Group I

apparently decided to leave bad enough

alone, and forwarded their ballots loose in

the outer envelope.

February, 1963

43

Group II contained 158 voters who dis-

regarded the instruction to sign the outer

mailing envelope. (Actually, the lack of

signature was of no great concern to the

tellers, since the secretary had thoughtfully

stencilled the addressee’s name on the back

of each envelope, and this was taken as

evidence of authenticity.) Of these, only

34 (22 percent) were sufficiently concerned

with the lack of a ballot envelope to hunt

up a substitute; the remaining 124 voters

were content to do without.

Election Results

Announced

Returns from the annual mail ballot of

the membership, sent out in mid-December,

were tallied by a Committee of Tellers on

January 11 and reported at the Academy’s

annual meeting on January 17.

The balloting covered a new slate of

officers for 1963, several changes in the

Bylaws, and a new affiliation by a scientific

society.

Benjamin D. Van Evera, George W.

Irving, Jr., and Malcolm C. Henderson

were re-elected president, secretary, and

treasurer, respectively, without opposition.

Dean Van Evera’s candidacy was ne-

cessitated by the resignation last fall of

Heinz Specht, then president-elect of the

Academy, who left the country to take up a

post in Japan. This marks the first oc-

casion since 1910 that an Academy presi-

dent has succeeded himself.

For the post of president-elect, Francois

N. Frenkiel defeated Marion W. Parker

by a narrow margin. Dr. Frenkiel will

automatically accede to the presidency in

1964.

John K. Taylor and Mary L. Robbins

were elected managers-at-large for the peri-

od 1963-65, defeating Allen L. Alexander

and Harold T. Cook.

The complete roster of officers, managers,

and committee chairmen will be published

in the March Journal.

Also voted upon, and passed by far

more than the necesary two-thirds major-

ity, were proposals to amend four articles

of the Bylaws (Articles II, III, IV, and

VIII). Purpose of these revisions was to

recognize two classes of membership — -

‘‘fellows” and ‘‘members” — instead of one

class as heretofore. The term “fellow” is

assigned to present members of the Acad-

emy and to future candidates of equivalent

scientific status. The term “member” will

be assigned to persons interested in support-

ing science but not otherwise qualified for

membership in the Academy.

A new edition of the Bylaws, reflecting

the amendments just accepted by the mem-

bership, appears at the end of this issue.

Also in the voting, a proposal for affilia-

tion with the Academy, of the Baltimore-

Washington Section of the American Ce-

ramic Society, was approved by a wide

margin. The ceramists thus become the

29th scientific group to be associated with

the Academy.

Additional Bylaws

Changes Proposed

New proposed Bylaws changes, con-

cerned with Article IV (Officers), were

approved by the Board of Managers at its

meeting of January 8, and will be brought

before the membership in the near future

for formal ratification. They will supple-

ment the changes that were approved in

December.

According to the present Bylaws, there

are eight officers — president, president-

elect, secretary, treasurer, editor, manag-

ing editor, archivist, and custodian of pub-

lications— of which the first four are elected

by the membership and the last four are

appointed. Purpose of the changes is to

recognize that the four elected officers are

the true officers and policy-makers of the

Academy.

The changes also will reflect present

Academy practice as concerns the four

present appointive posts. The position of

managing editor will be consolidated with

that of editor: the appointment of an

archivist will be made permissive rather

than mandatory; and the post of custodian

of publications will be abolished, since the

44

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Academy’s Proceedings and back issues

of the Journal are now being stocked and

sold by a private firm in New York.

The proposed changes are as follows:

Article IV — Officers

Section 1. The officers of the Academy shall be

a President, a President-elect, a Secretary, and a

Treasurer. All shall be chosen from resident fel-

lows of the Academy.

Section 2. The President shall appoint all com-

mittees and such non-elective officers as are needed

unless otherwise directed by the Board of Man-

agers or provided in the Bylaws. He (or his sub-

stitute— the President-elect, the Secretary, or the

Treasurer, in that order) shall preside at all meet-

ings of the Academy and of the Board of Man-

agers.

Section 3. Unchanged.

Section 4. Unchanged.

Section 5. Unchanged.

Section 6. An Editor shall be in charge of all

activities connected with the Academy’s publica-

tions. He shall be nominated by the Executive

Committee and appointed by the President for an

indefinite term subject to annual review by the

Board of Managers. The Editor shall serve as a

nonvoting member of the Board.

Section 7. Delete.

Section 8 becomes Section 7. An Archivist may

be appointed by the President. If appointed, he

shall maintain the permanent records of the

Academy, including important records which are

no longer in current use by the Secretary, Treas-

urer, or other officer, and such other documents

and material as the Board of Managers may direct.

Section 9. Delete.

Section 10 becomes Section 8.

Section 11 becomes Section 9.

Section 12 becomes Section 10. Not later than

December 15, the Secretary shall prepare and mail

ballots to members and fellows. Independent

nominations shall be included on the ballot, and

the names of the nominees shall be arranged in

alphabetical order. When more than two candi-

dates are nominated for the same office the voting

shall be by preferential ballot in the manner pre-

scribed by the Board of Managers. The ballot

shall contain also a notice to the effect that votes

not received by the Secretary before the first

Thursday of January, and votes of individuals

whose dues are in arrears for one year or more,

will not be counted. The Committee of Tellers

shall count the votes and report the results at

the annual meeting of the Academy.

Section 13 becomes Section 11.

SCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT

The earth’s crust is 30 miles thick

in eastern Colorado, 20 miles thick in

the high mountains of central Nevada,

and only 10 miles thick in the central

valley of California. This information

has resulted from seismic probings of the

earth’s interior, conducted under the direc-

tion of L. C. Pakiser of the Geological

Survey. It is based on a network of about

2,000 recordings of seismic waves from

underground nuclear and conventional ex-

plosions, extending from eastern Colorado

to the California coastline, and from cen-

tral Idaho to the Mexican border.

The Food and Drug Administration

released new figures on January 8 on

the strontium-90 content of the diet

of an average 19-year old hoy. They are

based on “market basket” samplings in

Washington, Atlanta, Minneapolis, St.

Louis, and San Francisco. As of August

1962, the average daily intake from the

Washington sample would have been 25.9

micromicrocuries, or about 13 percent of

the radiation protection guide for average

daily intake as established by the Federal

Radiation Council. This represents an in-

crease from 6 percent as reported in March,

for samples collected in May, August, and

November 1961. The August samples tak-

en in the other four cities showed levels of

daily intake of 12.8 micromicrocuries in

San Francisco, 31.6 in Minneapolis, 19.6

in Atlanta, and 33 in St. Louis.

A cubic meter of air may contain

as many as 10 million particles of

ragweed pollen — a major cause of hay

fever — in season, according to an article

in the Smithsonian Institution’s annual re-

port by P. H. Gregory of Rothamsted

Experimental Station. In addition, the air

may contain spores of important plant

pathogens, such as rusts and smuts of

cereals, downy mildews, and mushrooms.

The kind and quantity of this material

varies greatly with the season, and between

night and day. The periodic cycles are

determined largely by meteorological con-

ditions. Most of the spores come from

plants and vegetable debris, rather than

from the soil itself.

February, 1963

45

Science in Washington

SCIENTISTS IN THE NEWS

Contributions to this column may be

addressed to Harold T. Cook , Associate

Editor , c/o U.S. Department oj Agriculture,

Agricultural Marketing Service, Room 2628

South Building, Washington 25, D. C.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

S. Kenneth Love was given the De-

partment of the Interior’s Award for

Distinguished Service on December 12. in

recognition of exceptional contributions in

the field of water resources during his con-

tinuous service of over 34 years.

Edwin W. Roedder received a cita-

tion on January 2 from Secretary Udall.

for his work on the Department of In-

terior’s prize-winning film. “Eruption of

Kilauea, 1959-1960.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON

UNIVERSITY

Provost 0. S. Colclough has appointed

a University Committee on Biophysics,

which will function under the guidance of

Benjamin D. Van Evera, dean for spon-

sored research. Members of the committee

are A. H. Desmond, F. P. J. Diecke. R. C.

Fowler, H. Jehle, W. F. Sager, and S. S.

Yeandle, Jr. (chairman).

HARRIS RESEARCH

LABORATORIES

Alfred E. Brown spoke before the

Science Bureau of the Metropolitan Wash-

ington Board of Trade on January 8, on

“Research and Development Activities in

the Washington Area.” Dr. Brown also ad-

dressed the Chemical Engineers Club of

Washington on January 21, on “Areas of

Interest of Harris Research Laboratories.”

John Menkart attended a meeting of

the Research Advisory Committee of the

Textile Research Institute, held December

14 in Princeton, N. J.

John F. Krasny attended a Symposium

on Fibrous Materials at the Biltmore Hotel

in Dayton, Ohio. October 16-17.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Kurt H. Stern, a physical chemist at

NBS, lectured to the Advanced Inorganic

Chemistry Seminar on October 23, on

“Electrochemistry of Fused Salt Systems.”

Lloyd N. Ferguson, head of the De-

partment, was recently appointed to the

Educational Subcommittee of the Science

Bureau, Washington Board of Trade. On

November 16, Professor Ferguson spoke

on “Bimolecular Studies of the Sense of

Taste” in the seminar series of the Depart-

ment of Food Science and Technology at

the University of California, Davis.

Joseph B. Morris addressed the De-

cember 7 meeting of the Analytical Group

of the ACS New York Section, on “The

Graphite Electrode in Electroanalytical

Chemistry.”

George C. Turrell gave two papers at

the 10th Annual Basic Research Groups

Symposium at Fort Belvoir on October 9.

Dr. Turrell, who has been promoted to

associate professor, recently received a

grant from the Air Force Office of Scien-

tific Research, in the amount of $37,500,

for studies on spectra of compressed gases.

NATIONAL BUREAU OF

STANDARDS

Recent talks by NBS Washington per-

sonnel :

W. J. Hamer: “Significance of Recent

Changes in Fundamental Constants” —

Mohawk-Hudson Section of the Electro-

chemical Society, at General Electric Re-

search Laboratories, Schenectady; and

“The Significance of Recent Changes

in Fundamental Constants” — Westinghouse

Electric Corporation, Research and Devel-

opment Center, Pittsburgh.

H. S. Isbell : “Isotope Effects and Mul-

tiple Labeled Techniques in Biological

Research” — New Y ork Medical College.

Department of Biochemistry, New York.

J. Kruger: “The Passivity of Iron” —

Chemistry Department. University of Vir-

ginia, Charlottesville.

46

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

A. T. McPherson : “Some Problems in

Estimating the Cost and Optimum Time

of Conversion” — Annual Meeting of the

Metric Association, Philadelphia.

M. D. Scheer: “Adsorption Lifetimes

of Cs+ and Ba+ Polycrystalline W and

Re” — Chemistry Department, Antioch Col-

lege, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

J. K. Taylor: “The Establishment of

Standards of Measurement” — North Caro-

lina Committee on High School Physics,

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

L. S. Taylor: “Radiation Protection

and Some of Its Associated and Technical

Problems” — New England Roentgen Ray

Society, Boston.

C. M. Tchen: “Kinetic Equations for

Plasmas” — Aero Space Corporation, Los

Angeles; “Interaction of the Solar Cor-

puscular Stream with the Geomagnetic

Field” and “Landau Damping with Col-

lective Correlations” — Jet Propulsion Lab-

oratory, California Institute of Technology,

Pasadena; and “Plasma Oscillations with

the Effects of Correlations” — Lawrence

Radiation Laboratory, University of Cali-

fornia. Livermore.

Lauriston S. Taylor has been named

acting associate director, succeeding I. C.

Schoonover, who has been detailed to the

Department of Commerce as acting deputy

to the Assistant Secretary for Science and

Technology. In his new position, Dr. Tay-

lor will be the principal staff advisor to

the director on program development, co-

ordination, and evaluation. He will be

particularly concerned with the long-range

activities of the Bureau in relation to the

needs of science and technology.

Julian Eisenstein, a physicist in the

Cryogenic Physics Section, was recently

selected first president of the Board of

Trustees of the new Washington Gallery

of Modern Art. One of the organizers of

the gallery, Dr. Eisenstein has been work-

ing on the project for about two years.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

T. D. Stewart, director of the Smith-

sonian Institution’s Museum of Natural

History, is author of an article on the

Neanderthal men, appearing in the latest

annual report of the Institution. The article

is based on Dr. Stewart’s restoration of

two Neanderthal skulls from Shanidar

Cave in northern Iraq.

USDA, BELTSVILLE

C. H. Hoffmann presented an invita-

tional paper entitled “Biological, Chemical,

and Other Specific Methods for Control of

Orchard Insects” at the 58th Annual Meet-

ing of the Washington State Horticulture

Association, Yakima, Washington, on De-

cember 5. Dr. Hoffmann also was guest

speaker at the first regular meeting of the

Association, on December 17. He spoke on

“What Can We Conclude About Pesticides

— Their Necessity, Value, and Safety as

Used by the Pest Control Operator.”

Stanley A. Hall, chief of the Pesticide

Chemicals Research Branch, has been

named chairman of the Interdepartmental

Committee on Pest Control.

Edna M. Buhrer, nematologist of

ARS, retired on December 31. She will

continue to serve as corresponding secre-

tary-treasurer of the Helminthological

Society of Washington.

USDA, WASHINGTON

Justus C. Ward gave a talk on “Regis-

tration Requirements Under the Federal

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide

Act Brought Up-to-Date,” before the In-

secticide Division of the Chemical Special-

ties Manufacturers Association, meeting

in Washington on December 6.

Ohio State University conferred an

honorary Doctor of Science degree on

Hazel K. Stiebeling at its winter com-

mencement on December 14.

As chairman of AAAS Section 0 (Agri-

culture) , George W. Irving, Jr., arranged

for and attended the five sessions of the

Symposium on Food Quality as Affected

by Production Practices and Processing,

as part of the 129th meeting of AAAS held

in Philadelphia, December 26-30. W. T.

Pentzer, Agricultural Marketing Service,

was chairman of Session One (Fruits and

February, 1963

47

Vegetables). Llovtl RvalL also of AMS,

spoke on “Protecting the Quality of Fruits

and Vegetables after Harvesting.” T. C.

Byerlv, administrator of Cooperative State

Experiment Stations, took part in Session

Five (Meats), speaking on “Genetic and

Environmental Factors in Development and

Performance.” Frederick J. Stevenson

(retired) was coauthor of a paper on

“Potato Quality as Related to Heredity and

Environment.”

DEATH

J. Howard Dellinger, an interna-

tionally-known physicist, died December

28 at Suburban Hospital, at the age of 76.

Dr. Dellinger was born in Cleveland in

1886. He received the A.B. degree from

George Washington University in 1908,

the Ph.D. degree from Princeton Uni-

versity in 1913, and the D.Sc. degree from

GWU in 1932.

He served as a physicist at the National

Bureau of Standards from 1907 to 1948.

He was chief of the Radio Section from

1919 to 1946, and chief of the Central

Radio Propagation Laboratory from 1946

to 1948. He conducted extensive research

studies on physical, mathematical, radio,

electronic, aviation, and telecommunica-

tion subjects, and was the author of 136

published articles, books, and treatises.

Among his many other activities, Dr.

Dellinger was co-organizer, chairman, etc.,

of the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory

Committee (1922-48) ; chairman of the

International Radio Consultative Commit-

tee’s study group on ionospheric radio

propagation (1948-57) ; secretary of the

Government’s Liaison Committee on Aero-

nautic Radio Research (1929-34), and

chairman of the successor group, the Radio

Technical Commission for Aeronautics

(1941-57) ; chairman of the Radio Techni-

cal Commission for Marine Services (1947-

56) ; and member of many other Govern-

ment committees and organizations on

radio, electronic, aviation, and telecom-

munication matters in the period 1912-62.

Dr. Dellinger supervised the develop-

ment of numerous basic radio aids to air

navigation, such as the directive radio

beacon for airplane guidance; the airways

radio range beacon system; a blind land-

ing system; and radiosonde. During World

War II he supervised the beginning of the

proximity fuse project, established and

directed the Interservice Radio Propaga-

tion Laboratory, and held various commit-

tee posts with defense agencies. He dis-

covered the simultaneous occurrence of

visible solar eruptions and semi-worldwide

sudden radio fadeouts (“Dellinger effect”),

supervised the initiation and development

of the standard frequency broadcast serv-

ice (WWV), and served as U.S. delegate

to international radio and telecommunica-

tion conferences in many countries from

1921 to 1962.

Among his numerous organizational

memberships, Dr. Dellinger was past vice-

president of the Washington Academy of

Sciences, and honorary president (for

life) of the International Scientific Radio

Union. He held many gold medals and

other awards for his achievements.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February 18 — Society of American

Military Engineers

Regular luncheon meeting.

Noon, Barker Hall. YWCA, 17th & K

Sts., N.W.

February 19 — Anthropological Soci-

ety of Washington

Gordon Gibson, Smithsonian Institution,

"Fieldwork in Southwest Africa.”

8:15 p.m., Room 43, National Museum,

10th St. & Constitution Ave., N.W.

February 20 — American Meteorologi-

cal Society

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., National Academy of Sci-

ences.

February 20 — American Society for

Quality Control.

Joseph Steinberg, Bureau of Census,

“Sampling and Automation.”

6:30 p.m., refreshments; 7:00 p.m.,

dinner; 8:00 p.m., meeting, ballroom of

Roger Smith Hotel.

48

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

February 20 — Washington Society of

Engineers

“Current Status of the National Fallout

Shelter and Marking Programs,” by a

representative of the Department of De-

fense.

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

February 20 — Zoology Colloquium

Bernard Patten, Virginia Institute of

Marine Science, “Use of Cybernetic Models

in the Analysis of Community Stability.”

4:00 p.m., Room 405 McKeldin Library,

University of Maryland.

February 25 — American Society of

Metals

Dinner meeting. J. Herbert Hollomon,

Assistant Secretary for Science & Tech-

nology, Department of Commerce, “Tech-

nology and Economic Growth.”

6:30 p.m., AAUW building, 2401 Vir-

ginia Ave., N.W.

February 25 — D. C. Society of Pro-

fessional Engineers

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., National Housing Center,

1625 L St., N.W.

February 26 — American Society of

Civil Engineers

Luncheon meeting. Maj.-Gen. Augustus

Minton, “The Challenge of the Engineer in

the Space Age.”

Noon, YWCA, 17th & K Sts., N.W.

February 26 — American Society for

Microbiology

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Sternberg Auditorium. Walter

Reed.

February 27 — Geological Society of

Washington

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

NEW MEMBER ELECTED

The following was elected to membership

in the Academy at the Board of Managers

meeting of January 8:

Walter G. Wadey, branch chief,

Bowles Engineering Corporation, Silver

Spring, Md., “in recognition of his widely

recognized competence in the new field of

pure fluid systems.” (Sponsors: Ronald E.

Bowles, Billy M. Horton, Israel Rotkin.)

BOARD OF MANAGERS

MEETING NOTES

January Meeting

The Board of Managers held its 552nd

meeting on January 8 at the National

Academy of Sciences, with President Van

Evera presiding.

The minutes of the 551st meeting were

approved with a minor correction.

Appointments. Dr. Van Evera announced

the following committee appointments for

1963: Mary L. Robbins as chairman of the

Committee on Meetings, and Robert B.

Hobbs as chairman of the Committee on

Membership. He had appointed the follow-

ing Committee of Tellers to count the bal-

lots cast in the recent mail voting for of-

ficers and Bylaws revisions: Harry Fowells

(chairman), Norman Bekkedahl, and S. B.

Detwiler, Jr.

Meetings. Dr. Robbins reported that the

annual meeting on January 17 would be

addressed by Freeman H. Quimby of

NASA (with his colleague Orr E. Reynolds

if in the country) on “Biological Explora-

tion of Space.”

Membership. No nominations were pre-

sented for First Reading.

Awards for Scientific Achievement.

Chairman John S. Toll reported the fol-

lowing selections to receive awards for

scientific achievement in 1963: Biological

sciences , Marshall Nirenberg of NIH;

engineering sciences , Lindell E. Steele of

NRL; physical sciences , Edward A. Mason,

University of Maryland; mathematics ,

Bruce L. Reinhart, Lhiiversity of Mary-

land; and teaching of science , Rev. Francis

J. Heyden, S.J.. Georgetown University.

February 28 — American Society of

Mechanical Engineers

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., PEPCO Auditorium. 10th &

E Sts, N.W.

February, 1963

49

(See also story elsewhere in this issue.)

Grants-in-Aid. The Board approved a

grant of $50 to Allan J. Reiter for investi-

gation of the participation of calcium in the

conversion of prothrombin to thrombin.

Encouragement of Science Talent. Dr.

Van Evera read a letter from Chairman

Brenner, summarizing the committee’s

activities over the past year, and indicat-

ing Dr. Brenner’s desire to retire from his

post.

Policy and Planning. Chairman Wayne

Hall presented proposed changes in Article

IV of the Bylaws, dealing with officers of

the Academy, designed to clarify the pres-

ent language and bring it into accordance

with the actual practice of the Academy.

The changes would recognize four officers

— president, president-elect, secretary, and

treasurer — who are elected by the member-

ship. Of the four appointive offices pre-

viously recognized, the post of managing

editor would be consolidated with that of

the editor: the appointment of an archivist

would be made permissive rather than

mandatory; and the post of custodian of

publications would be abolished, since the

Academy’s Proceedings and back issues of

the Journal are now being stocked and sold

by a private firm in New York.

Election of Member. Following the Sec-

ond Reading of his name by Dr. Robbins,

Walter G. Wadey was elected to member-

ship in the Academy.

Treasurer. Dr. Henderson reported year-

end cash balances as follows : Academy,

$5,681: Junior Academy, $2,553; Joint

Board on Science Education, $8,932.

New Business. Dr. McPherson called the

Board’s attention to the activity report for

1962 of the New Mexico Academy of

Sciences. This report stimulated a general

discussion of science fairs. Dr. Schubert

commented on the diminishing value of the

National Science Fair in accomplishing its

original purpose, alluding to the fact that

the National Science Fair is increasingly

in the hands of non-scientific “profession-

als,” and that the activities involved in

these fairs detract from the general educa-

tion of students. Others joined in the dis-

cussion, agreeing generally with Dr. Schu-

bert’s comments and concluding that there

is less objection to the National Science

Fair itself than to the way in which it is

now being conducted. Dr. Allen suggested

that he would prefer constructive action to

correct deficiencies in the conduct of science

fairs, rather than unconstructive criticism

and condemnation of such fairs as they now

exist. Dr. McPherson suggested that con-

structive action to improve science fairs

might be discussed and initiated at the

meeting of the Academies of Science, held

annually at the AAAS meeting; the next

opportunity would be at the 1963 meeting

in Cleveland.

Dr. Van Evera read a letter from Dr.

McPherson, concerning the desirability of

considering ways to encourage the con-

struction of a headquarters building for

science and engineering activities in the

District of Columbia. Dr. Brown described

the current interest of the Chemical Society

of Washington in this topic, and the sugges-

tions made by Joseph Gilman of the CSW

Long-Range Planning Committee, involv-

ing a multimillion dollar building under-

written at least in part by science-interested

industries. There was general agreement

that action through the D. C. Council, as

proposed by Dr. McPherson, would be

preferable to individual action by the sev-

eral scientific societies in the District.

It was agreed that future Board meetings

would be held at 7 :30 p.m. on the second

Tuesday of each month.

Secretary Irving reported that a request

for affiliation of the Washington-Baltimore

Section of the Electrochemical Society,

made in January 1962, had been mislaid

and had received no attention. The request

was referred to the Committee on Policy

and Planning for consideration and re-

port at the February Board meeting.

50

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

BYLAWS

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

(Last Revised in December 1962)

Article I — Purposes

Section 1. The purposes of the Washington Academy of Sciences shall be: (a) to stimulate

interest in the sciences, both pure and applied, and (b) to promote their advancement and the

development of their philosophical aspects by the Academy membership and through cooperative

action by the affiliated societies.

Section 2. These objectives may be attained by, but are not limited to:

(a) Publication of a periodical and of occasional scientific monographs and such other publi-

cations as may be deemed desirable.

(b) Public lectures of broad scope and interest in the fields of science.

(c) Sponsoring a Washington Junior Academy of Sciences.

(d) Promoting science education and a professional interest in science among people of high

school and college age.

(e) Accepting or making grants of funds to aid special research projects.

(f) Symposia, both formal and small informal, on any aspects of science.

(g) Scientific conferences.

(h) Organization of, or assistance in, scientific expeditions.

(i) Cooperation with other Academies and scientific organizations.

(j) Awards of prizes and citations for special merit in science.

(k) Maintaining an office and staff to aid in carrying out the purposes of the Academy.

Article II — Membership

Section 1. The membership shall consist of three general classes: members, fellows and patrons.

Section 2. Members shall be persons who are interested in and will support the objectives of

the Academy and who are otherwise acceptable to at least two-thirds of the Committee on Member-

ship. A letter or application form requesting membership and signed by the applicant may suffice

for action by the Committee; approval by the Committee constitutes election to membership.

Section 3. Fellows shall be persons who by reason of original research or other outstanding

service to the sciences, mathematics, or engineering are deemed worthy of the honor of election to

Academy fellowship, which may be attained only through nomination as provided in Section 4.

Section 4. Nominations of fellows shall be presented to the Committee on Membership on a

form approved by the Committee. The form shall be signed by the sponsor, a fellow who has

knowledge of the nominee’s field, and shall be endorsed by at least one other fellow. An explanatory

letter from the sponsor and a bibliography of the nominee’s publications shall accompany the

completed nomination form.

Section 5. Election to fellowship shall be by vote of the Board of Managers upon recom-

mendation of the Committee on Membership. Final action on nominations shall be deferred at

least one week after presentation to the Board, and two-thirds of the vote cast shall be necessary

to elect.

Section 6. Persons who have given to the Academy not less than one thousand (1,000)

dollars or its equivalent in property shall be eligible for election by the Board of Managers as

patrons (for life) of the Academy.

Section 7. Life members or fellows shall be those individuals who have made a single pay-

ment in accordance with Article III, Section 2, in lieu of annual dues.

Section 8. Members or fellows in good standing who have attained the age of 65 and are

retired, or are retired before the age of 65 because of disability, may become emeritus. Upon

request to the treasurer for transfer to this status, they shall be relieved of the further payment

of dues, beginning with the following January first; shall receive notices of meetings without

charge; and, at their request, shall be entitled to receive the Academy periodical at cost.

Section 9. Members or fellows living more than 50 miles from the White House, Washington,

D. C. shall be classed as nonresident members or fellows.

Section 10. An election to any dues-paying class of membership shall be void if the candidate

February, 1963

51

does not within three months thereafter pay his dues or satisfactorily explain his failure to do so.

Section 11. Former members or fellows who resigned in good standing may be reinstated upon

application to the Secretary and approval by the Board of Managers. No reconsideration of the

applicant’s qualifications need be made by the Membership Committee in these cases.

Article III — Dues

Section 1. The annual dues of resident fellows shall be $10.00 per year. The annual dues of

members and of nonresident fellows shall be $7.50 per year. Dues for fractional parts of the year

shall be at the monthly rate of one-twelfth the annual rate. No dues shall be paid by emeritus

members and fellows, life members and fellows, and patrons.

Section 2. Members and fellows in good standing may be relieved of further payment of

dues by making a single payment to provide an annuity equal to their annual dues. (See Article II,

Section 7). The amount of the single payment shall be computed on the basis of an interest rate

to be determined by the Board of Managers.

Section 3. Members or fellows whose dues are in arrears for one year shall not be entitled

to receive Academy publications.

Section 4. Members or fellows whose dues are in arrears for more than two years shall be

dropped from the rolls of the Academy, upon notice to the Board of Managers, unless the Board

shall otherwise direct. Persons who have been dropped from membership for nonpayment of dues

may be reinstated upon approval of the Board and upon payment of back dues for two years

together with dues for the year of reinstatement.

Article IV — Officers

Section 1. The officers of the Academy shall be a President, a President-elect, a Secretary,

a Treasurer, an Editor, a Managing Editor, an Archivist, and a Custodian of Publications. All

shall be chosen from resident fellows of the Academy.

Section 2. The President shall appoint all committees unless otherwise directed by the Board

of Managers or provided in the bylaws. He (or his substitute — the President-elect, the Secretary or

the Treasurer, in that order) shall preside at all meetings of the Academy and of the Board of

Managers.

Section 3. The Secretary shall act as secretary to the Board of Managers and to the Academy

at large. He shall conduct all correspondence relating thereto, except as otherwise provided, and

shall be the custodian of the corporate seal of the Academy. He shall arrange for the publication

in the Academy periodical of the names and professional connections of new members, and also

of such proceedings of the Academy, including meetings of the Board of Managers, as may

appropriately be of interest to the membership. He shall be responsible for keeping a register

of the membership, showing such information as qualifications, elections, acceptances, changes of

residence, lapses of membership, resignations and deaths, and for informing the Treasurer of

changes affecting the status of members. He shall act as secretary to the Nominating Committee

(see Art. VI, Sect. 2).

Section 4. The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping an accurate account of all receipts

and disbursements, shall select a suitable depository for current funds which shall be approved

by the Executive Committee, and shall invest the permanent funds of the Academy as directed by

that Committee. He shall prepare a budget at the beginning of each year which shall be reviewed

by the Executive Committee for presentation to and acceptance by the Board of Managers. He

shall notify the Secretary of the date when each new member qualifies by payment of dues. He shall

act as business adviser to the Editor and shall keep necessary records pertaining to the subscription

list. In view of his position as Treasurer, however, he shall not be required to sign contracts. He

shall pay no bill until it has been approved in writing by the chairman of the committee or other

persons authorized to incur it. The fiscal year of the Academy shall be the same as the calendar year.

Section 5. The President and the Treasurer, as directed by the Board of Managers, shall

jointly assign securities belonging to the Academy and indorse financial and legal papers necessary

for the uses of the Academy, except those relating to current expenditures authorized by the Board.

In case of disability or absence of the President or Treasurer, the Board of Managers may designate

the President-elect or a qualified Delegate as Acting President or an officer of the Academy as

Acting Treasurer, who shall perform the duties of these officers during such disability or absence.

Section 6. The Editor shall have control of the scientific content of the Academy’s publications.

He shall be appointed for an indefinite term subject to annual review by the Board of Managers,

on nomination of the Executive Committee.

52

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Section 7. The Managing Editor shall sign all contracts and is authorized to supervise all

activities connected with the production of the Academy’s publications in accordance with fiscal

and editorial plans to be approved annually by the Executive Committee and the Board of Managers.

He shall be appointed for a term of one year by the Board of Managers on nomination of the

Executive Committee.

Section 8. The Archivist shall maintain the permanent records of the Academy, including

important records which are no longer in current use by the Secretary, Treasurer or other officer,

and such other documents and material as the Board of Managers may direct. The Archivist shall

be appointed by the President for a term of three years.

Section 9. The Custodian of Publications shall have general supervision of subscriptions for

the publications and of the sale of reserve stocks of publications of the Academy. He shall

recommend jointly with the Treasurer to the Board of Managers changes in the procedures and

prices relative to subscriptions, reserve stocks of publications and reprints. He shall have charge

of and be responsible for reserve stocks of the Academy’s publications, and shall maintain a

detailed inventory of reserve stocks. The Custodian of Publications shall be appointed by the

President for a term of three years.

Section 10. All officers and chairmen of standing committees shall submit annual reports at

the January meeting of the Board of Managers.

Section 11. Prior to November 1 of each year the Nominating Committee (Art. VI, Sect. 2),

having been notified by the Secretary, shall meet and nominate by preferential ballot, in the

manner prescribed by the Board of Managers, one person for each of the offices of President-elect,

of Secretary and of Treasurer, and four persons for the two Managers-at-large whose terms expire

each year. It shall, at the same time and in like manner, make nominations to fill any vacancy in

the foregoing. Not later than November 15, the Secretary shall forward to each Academy member

a printed notice of these nominations, with a list of incumbents. Independent nominations may be

made in writing by any ten active members. In order to be considered, such nominations must

be received by the Secretary before December 1.

Section 12. Not later than December 15, the Secretary shall prepare and mail ballots to

members and fellows. Independent nominations shall be included on the ballot, and the names of

the nominees shall be arranged in alphabetical order. When more than two candidates are

nominated for the same office the voting shall be by preferential ballot in the manner prescribed

by the Board of Managers. The ballot shall contain also a notice to the effect that votes not

received by the Secretary before the first Thursday of January, and votes of individuals whose dues

are in arrears for one year, will not be counted. The Committee of Tellers shall count the votes

and report the results at the annual meeting of the Academy.

Section 13. The newly elected officers shall take office at the close of the annual meeting, the

President-elect of the previous year automatically becoming President.

Article V — Board of Managers

Section 1. The activities of the Academy shall be guided by the Board of Managers, consisting

of the President, the President-elect, one Delegate from each of the affiliated societies, the Secretary,

the Treasurer, six elected Managers-at-large, the Editor, the Managing Editor, the Archivist, and

the Custodian of Publications. The elected officers of the Academy shall hold like offices on the

Board of Managers.

Section 2. One Delegate shall be selected by each affiliated society (see Art. VIII, Sect. 3).

He shall serve until replaced by his society. Each Delegate is expected to participate in the

meetings of the Board of Managers and vote on behalf of his society.

Section 3. The Board of Managers shall transact all business of the Academy not otherwise

provided for. A quorum of the Board shall be nine of its members.

Section 4. The Board of Managers may provide for such standing and special committees as

it deems necessary.

Section 5. The Board shall have power to fill vacancies in its own membership until the next

annual election. This does not apply to the offices of President and Treasurer (see Art. IV, Sect. 5),

nor to Delegates (see Art. V. S’ect. 2).

Article VI — Committees

Section 1. An Executive Committee shall have general supervision of Academy finances,

approve the selection of a depository for the current funds, and direct the investment of the

February, 1963

53

permanent funds. At the beginning of the year it shall present to the Board of Managers an

itemized statement of receipts and expenditures of the preceding year and a budget based on the

estimated receipts and disbursements of the coming year, with such recommendations as may seem

desirable. It shall be charged with the duty of considering all activities of the Academy which may

tend to maintain and promote relations with the affiliated societies, and with any other business which

may be assigned to it by the Board. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, the

President-elect, the Secretary and the Treasurer (or Acting Treasurer) ex officio, as well as two

members appointed annually by the President from the membership of the Board.

Section 2. The Delegates shall constitute a Nominating Committee (see Art. IV. Sect. 11).

The Delegate from the Philosophical Society shall be chairman of the Committee, or, in his absence,

the Delegate from another society in the order of seniority as given in Article VIII, Section 1.

Section 3. The President shall appoint in advance of the annual meeting an Auditing Com-

mittee consisting of three persons, none of whom is an officer, to audit the accounts of the

Treasurer (Art. VII, Sect. 1).

Section 4. On or before the last Thursday of each year the President shall appoint a com-

mittee of three Tellers whose duty it shall be to canvass the ballots (Art. IV, Sect. 12, Art.

VII, Sect. 1) .

Section 5. The President shall appoint from the Academy membership such committees as

are authorized by the Board of Managers and such special committees as necessary to carry out

his functions. Committee appointments shall be staggered as to term whenever it is determined

by the Board to be in the interest of continuity of committee affairs.

Article VII — Meetings

Section 1. The annual meeting shall be held each year in January. It shall be held on the

third Thursday of the month unless otherwise directed by the Board of Managers. At this meet-

ing the reports of the Secretary, Treasurer, Auditing Committee (see Art. VI, Sect. 3), and

Committee of Tellers shall be presented.

Section 2. Other meetings may be held at such time and place as the Board of Managers

may determine.

Section 3. The rules contained in “Robert’s Rules of Order Revised” shall govern the

Academy in all cases to which they are applicable, and in which they are not inconsistent with

the bylaws or the special rules of order of the Academy.

Article VIII — Cooperation

Section 1. The term “affiliated societies” in their order of seniority (see Art. VI. Sect. 2)

shall be held to cover the:

Philosophical Society of Washington

Anthropological Society of Washington

Biological Society of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

Entomological Society of Washington

National Geographic Society

Geological Society of Washington

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Columbia Historical Society

Botanical Society of Washington

Washington Section of Society of American Foresters

Washington Society of Engineers

Washington Section of American Institute of Electrical Engineers

Washington Section of American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Helminthological Society of Washington

Washington Branch of American Society for Microbiology

Washington Post of Society of American Military Engineers

Washington Section of Institute of Radio Engineers

District of Columbia S’ection of American Society of Civil Engineers

District of Columbia Section of Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Washington Chapter of American Society for Metals

Washington Section of the International Association for Dental Research

54

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Washington Section of Institute of the Aerospace Sciences

D. C. Branch of American Meteorological Society

Insecticide Society of Washington

Washington Branch of the Acoustical S'ociety of America

Washington Section of the American Nuclear Society

Washington Section of Institute of Food Technologists

Baltimore- Washington Section of the American Ceramic Society

and such others as may be hereafter recommended by the Board and elected by two-thirds of

the members of the Academy voting, the vote being taken by correspondence. A society may be

released from affiliation on recommendation of the Board of Managers, and the concurrence of

two-thirds of the members of the Academy voting.

Section 2. The Academy may assist the affiliated scientific societies of Washington in any

matter of common interest, as in joint meetings, or the publication of a joint directory: Provided,

it shall not have power to incur for or in the name of one or more of these societies any expense

or liability not previously authorized by said society or societies, nor shall it without action of the

Board of Managers be responsible for any expenses incurred by one or more of the affiliated

societies.

Section 3. Each affiliated society shall select one of its members as Delegate to the

Academy who is a resident member or fellow of the Academy.

Section 4. The Academy may establish and assist a Washington Junior Academy of Sciences

for the encouragement of interest in science among students in the Washington area of high

school and college age.

Article IX — Awards and Grants-in-aid

Section 1. The Academy may award medals and prizes, or otherwise express its recognition

and commendation of scientific work of high merit and distinction in the Washington area. Such

recognition shall be given only on approval by the Board of Managers of a recommendation by a

committee on awards for scientific achievement.

Section 2. The Academy may receive or make grants to aid scientific research in the Wash-

ington area. Grants shall be received or made only on approval by the Board of Managers of a

recommendation by a committee on grants-in-aid for scientific research.

Article X — Amendments

Section 1. Amendments to these bylaws shall be proposed by the Board of Managers and

submitted to the members of the Academy in the form of a mail ballot accompanied by a state-

ment of the reasons for the proposed amendment. A two-thirds majority of those members voting

is required for adoption. At least two weeks shall be allowed for the ballots to be returned.

Section 2. Any affiliated society or any group of ten or more members may propose an

amendment to the Board of Managers in writing. The action of the Board in accepting or reject-

ing this proposal to amend the bylaws shall be by a vote on a roll call, and the complete roll

call shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.

February, 1963

55

Delegates to the Washington Academy of Sciences, Representing

the Local Affiliated Societies*

Philosophical Society of Washington

Anthropological Society of Washington

Biological Society of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

Entomological Society of Washington

National Geographic Society

Geological Society of Washington

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Columbia Historical Society

Botanical Society of Washington

Society of American Foresters

Washington Society of Engineers

American Institute of Electrical Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Helminthological Society of Washington

American Society for Microbiology

Society of American Military Engineers

Institute of Radio Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

American Society for Metals

International Association for Dental Research

Institute of the Aerospace Sciences

American Meteorological Society

Insecticide Society of Washington

Acoustical Society of America

American Nuclear Society

Institute of Food Technologists

American Ceramic Society

R. D. Myers

Regina Flannery Herzfeld

John A. Paradiso

Leo Schubert

Frank L. Campbell

Alexander Wetmore

G. Arthur Cooper

Frederick 0. Coe

U. S. Grant, III

Wilbur D. McClellan

Harry A. Fowells

Carl I. Aslakson

William A. Geyger

William G. Allen

Doys A. Shorb

Howard Reynolds

Delegate not appointed

Robert D. Huntoon

Thorndike Saville, Jr.

Falconer Smith

Hugh L. Logan

Gerhard M. Brauer

Francois N. Frenkiel

Jack Thompson

Robert A. Fulton

Malcolm C. Henderson

George L. Weil

Richard P. Farrow

Delegate not appointed

Delegates continue in office until new selections are made b> the respective affiliated societies.

Volume 53

FEBRUARY 1963

No. 2

CONTENTS

Five Scientists to Receive Academy’s Annual Awards 12

Lasers 26

NSF Fellowships for Scientific Study Abroad 36

The Brownstone Tower 42

Editorial Comment 44

Election Results Announced 45

Additional Bylaws Changes Proposed 45

Science and Development 46

Science in Washington

Scientists in the News 47

Calendar of Events 49

New Member Elected 50

Board of Managers Meeting Notes 50

Bylaws of the Washington Academy of Sciences 52

Washington Academy of Sciences

1530— P St., N.W.

Washington, D. C.

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Paid at

Washington, 1). C.

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JOURNAL

of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY

of

SCIENCES

Vol. 53 • No. 3

MARCH 1963

JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Editor: Samuel B. Detwiler, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Associate

Frank L. Campbell, National Academy of

Sciences

Harold T. Cook, Department of Agriculture

Richard P. Farrow, National Canners Asso-

ciation

Editors

Russell B. Stevens, George Washington

University

John K. Taylor, National Bureau of Standards

Lawrence A. Wood, National Bureau of

Standards

Contributors

Albert M. Stone, Applied Physics Laboratory

John A. O’Brien, Jr., Catholic University

Charles A. Whitten, Coast & Geodetic Survey

Margaret D. Foster, Geological Survey

Reuben E. Wood, George Washington Univer-

sity

Joseph B. Morris, Howard University

Frank L. Campbell, NAS-NRC

Gerhard M. Brauer, National Bureau of

Standards

Howard W. Bond, National Institutes of Health

Ileen E. Stewart, National Science Foundation

Allen L. Alexander, Naval Research Laboratory

Victor R. Boswell, USDA, Beltsville

Harold T. Cook, USDA, Washington

William J. Bailey, University of Maryland

This Journal, the official organ of the Washington Academy of Sciences, publishes historical

articles, critical reviews, and scholarly scientific articles; notices of meetings and abstract proceed-

ings of meetings of the Academy and its affiliated societies; and regional news items, including

personal news, of interest to the entire membership. The Journal appears nine times a year, in

January to May and September to December.

Subscription rate: $7.50 per year (U.S.) or $1.00 per copy; foreign postage extra. Subscrip-

tion orders should be sent to the Washington Academy of Sciences, 1530 P St., N.W., Washington,

D.C. Remittances should be made payable to “Washington Academy of Sciences.”

Back issues of the Journal and Proceedings of the Academy have been taken in charge by the

Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York City, which will handle sales on a commission basis.

This firm expects to be set up early in 1963 for the direct handling of orders for back numbers.

Meanwhile, requests for back numbers should continue to be addressed to the Academy Office at

1530 P St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Claims for missing numbers will not be allowed if received more than 60 days after date of

mailing plus time normally required for postal delivery and claim. No claims will be allowed

because of failure to notify the Academy of a change of address.

Changes of address should be sent promptly to the Academy Office, 1530 P St., N.W.,

Washington, D.C. Such notification should include both old and new addresses and postal zone

number, if any.

OFFICERS OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

President: Benjamin D. Van Evera, George Washington University

President-Elect: Francois N. Frenkiel, David Taylor Model Basin

Secretary: George W. Irving, Jr., Department of Agriculture

Treasurer: Malcolm C. Henderson, Catholic University

A Brief Look at the Dismal Swamp

And Its Natural History,

Especially the Insects1

Ashley B. Gurney

Entomology Research Division , Agricultural Research Service , JJSDA

Introduction

The name Dismal Swamp gives a sense

of mystery and foreboding to persons un-

familiar with it: but. with the exception of

hunters, lumbermen, and other outdoor peo-

ple in the vicinity of Norfolk, Va., few

people have explored the area in sufficient

detail to determine whether the name is

well chosen. The Swamp appealed to my

son and me as a collecting place for grass-

hoppers and related insects, because it is

known as an area where some southeastern

plants and animals reach their northern

distributional limits; thus, there was a

chance that species previously unknown in

Virginia might be found. Further, collect-

ing and camping trips in the Dismal Swamp

afforded opportunities to see at first hand a

large area which still has many attributes

of a wilderness. It is an important reservoir

for living things, in a period when man’s

penchant for radically changing landscape

features and biota is well known.

Publicized by poets and tellers of fanci-

ful tales, who have helped to give the region

a wide reputation as an impenetrable

morass filled with risk for the uninitiated

visitor, as well as one graced with romance

and mystery, the Dismal Swamp’s dangers

1 The author and his son, Richard D. Gurney,

received a grant-in-aid from the Washington

Academy of Sciences in 1962 to make a pre-

liminary survey of the Orthoptera (grasshoppers,

katydids, crickets, cockroaches, mantids, walking-

sticks) of the Dismal Swamp. Two collecting

trips to the area were made in the summer of

1962; this article summarizes observations to date.

for the traveler lost on foot have become

legendary. On a hunting trip during the

1660’s, the first colonial governor of North

Carolina, William Drummond, found the

central lake which now bears his name;

however, his companions on the trip were

lost. In 1728, Col. William Byrd II of Vir-

ginia led a group which penetrated the

Swamp while surveying the line between

the Colonies of Virginia and North Caro-

lina. The party survived, but the rigorous

ordeal caused Byrd to apply the name Dis-

mal Swamp to the area. George Washington

made seven trips into the Swamp. Together

with Patrick Henry and other contempo-

raries, he organized a company that began

to dig drainage ditches before the Revolu-

tionary War. Dismal Town, now indicated

only by historical markers beside the trail

and artifacts occasionally discovered, was

a settlement built before 1763 on the Wash-

ington Ditch, near the western edge of the

Swamp.

Following an 1803 visit to Norfolk and

the Swamp. Sir Thomas Moore wrote the

ballad, “The Lake of Dismal Swamp,”

which was based on a romantic Indian

legend. During the Civil War period. Har-

riet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel that pic-

tured a runaway slave who hid in the Dis-

mal Swamp; and Henry W. Longfellow

wrote a poem on the same theme. Another

writer of fiction who used the Swamp as a

locale was Walter Prichard Eaton, who

wrote a boys’ adventure story, “Boy Scouts

in the Dismal Swamp,” in 1913, following

an on-the-spot visit to Lake Drummond.

March, 1963

57

In the latest popular account of the Swamp,

Davis (1962) summarizes the folklore as

well as history and general aspects. Indeed,

there is no shortage of background material

for readers interested in the fictional heri-

tage that has grown up since Washington’s

time.

General Description

The Dismal Swamp (Figure 1) is located

southwest of Norfolk, mainly in Nansemond

and Norfolk Counties, Virginia, and Cam-

den County, North Carolina. It is the most

northern of the large southeastern swamps

near the Atlantic Coast. The main swamp

area in Virginia is roughly 10 miles wide,

with some additional outlying eastern sec-

tions. Originally, the Swamp probably was

more than 20 miles wide, east to west. By

1890 it was estimated that a third of the

Swamp had been drained and cleared for

agricultural use; and slow but steady in-

roads have continued. (Pressure to further

decrease the Swamp’s size is discussed in

Time for November 30, 1962, page 21.)

The western boundary is the Nansemond

Escarpment, the border of a prehistoric sea.

White Marsh Road, the highway running

south from Suffolk, on top of the escarp-

ment, is about 45 to 60 feet above present

sea level. The main swamp area is nearly

level, sloping from 30 feet at the foot of the

western escarpment to about 20 feet along

the Dismal Swamp Canal (part of the Intra-

coastal Waterway system) , the eastern bor-

der of the main body of the Swamp. Lake

Drummond is 3 miles long, and most of it

is not more than 6 feet deep.

Water runs to the Dismal Swamp Canal

from the east side of Lake Drummond

through the 3^2-mile-long Feeder Ditch.

A control dam maintained by men of the

U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, who are

constantly in attendance, regulates the

water level. Several ditches drain into Lake

Drummond, notably the Washington and

Jericho Ditches from the northwest and the

Portsmouth Ditch from the northeast. The

water in Lake Drummond and the principal

ditches is brown; the color comes from a

large amount of woody material, including

Figure 1. — Portions of southeastern Virginia and

northeastern North Carolina, showing location

of Lake Drummond. Except for the coastal

dunes and beaches, most of this area was in-

cluded in the Dismal Swamp prior to drainage

and other human activities.

tannin. It does not have a pleasant taste,

but is harmless. For many years casks of

“juniper water,” as it is called locally, were

carried on ships because it remained pota-

ble for long periods regardless of its pecu-

liar flavor. A few fish thrive in it. Along

most of the ditches are trails, several of

which are quite passable for passenger cars

in dry weather. Until recent years, small

boats in the ditches were the principal

means of access to Lake Drummond. Nar-

row-gauge railways for bringing out logs

were used for many years; but they have

been largely, if not entirely, superseded by

trucks that are driven on the sand roads

paralleling the main ditches.

During periods of normal rainfall, many

sections do not have standing water and

are dry enough for foot travel. Snakes are

prevalent, and include the copperhead, a

rattlesnake, and the cottonmouth moccasin;

here the cottonmouth is very close to its

northern limit of distribution. However, we

saw no poisonous snakes, and with precau-

tions that are standard in “snake country”

58

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Figure 2. — Virginia portion of the Dismal Swamp. An equally large area still is swampland in

North Carolina. Some ditches exist which are not shown here.

they need not be feared. In wet weather,

the dirt roads are said to become impassable

for ordinary passenger cars. We found

sand flies (punkies, Culicoides ) somewhat

disagreeable, but did not notice many mos-

quitoes. Horse flies and deer flies are par-

ticularly abundant, and in early summer

one of the former, the famed “yellow fly”

( Diachlorus ferrugatus (F.) ) of the South-

east, is especially annoying until its season

of high adult abundance passes in early

August. The chief danger lies in wandering

too far from established trails and thus

losing one’s sense of direction. Certainly,

no extensive overland travel through the

woods should be attempted without a com-

pass, food, and a willingness to get wet.

In peat areas, fire is a constant threat

when the soil surface is dry. Chickering

(1873) reported seeing several fires in the

peaty soil during his visit, and there have

been some fires of many months’ duration

over the past 30 years. The summer of

1962 was so dry that in late August the

March, 1963

59

water level of Lake Drummond was at least

a foot lower than in July, and a strip of lake

bottom nearly a hundred feet wide was ex-

posed along the shore at the mouth of

Jericho Ditch.

Most of the Dismal Swamp is well

wooded, but lumbering has eliminated most

large stands of mature trees. White cedar

(Chamaecy paris) is an important timber

tree, as in swamps of the New Jersey pine

barrens; it is prevalent in areas where the

soil is rich in peat. There is also a great

deal of rich black soil with red maple

(Acer rubrurn L.), cypress (Taxodium),

black gum (Nyssa), and sweet gum (Li-

quidamber) among the dominant trees.

The aerial “knees” of cypress arc conspic-

uous in sections that are frequently flooded.

The inkberry (Ilex glabra (L. ) Gray),

sweet bay ( Magnolia virginiana L.), and

many other shrubs are common along the

ditches. Small bamboos ( Arundinaria tecta

( Walt.) Muhl. and A. macrosperma Michx.)

also occur along the ditches, and in some

open areas they make up small canebrakes.

Vines are abundant, and include several

green briers ( Smilax spp.), wild grape,

poison ivy, honeysuckle, “rattan” ( Ber-

chemia), and others; the briers with

prickles are a particular handicap to per-

sons walking through the thicker vegetation

of wooded areas. Spanish moss (Til-

landsia) occurs on trees in some parts of

the Dismal Swamp. We did not observe it

in 1962, and so conclude that within the

Swamp its distribution is spotty. We saw

thriving examples of this conspicuous

epiphyte attached to trees in the well-cared-

for and protected Seashore State Park at

Cape Henry, and at Knott’s Island, both

localities near the coast east of the Dismal

Swamp. Spanish moss rarely occurs north

of this location in Virginia.

Current Activities in the

Dismal Swamp

As has been true for more than 200

years, lumbering and hunting are the

principal human activities in the Swamp.

However, the limited amount of merchant-

able timber appears to be responsible for

keeping present cutting operations at a

low level. Several lumbering or paper-

making firms control most of the Swamp

land. For instance, one such firm manages

the northwest quarter of the Swamp and

maintains a cottage for a caretaker near the

north end of Jericho Ditch.

The principal game animal is the deer,

which is hunted primarily by groups of

hunters who take stands along the trails

and at other vantage points, and wait for

their quarry to be flushed into a favorable

position by dogs, as described in Sports

Illustrated for November 26, 1962, pp. 68-

82. Some rough foot trails lead for short

distances into the woodland, but there is

little direct stalking of deer off the main

improved trails that parallel the ditches.

A few bears are taken each year by hunters.

About 20 cottages, mainly used as hunting

lodges, are located on the shore of Lake

Drummond; several belong to cooperative

hunting clubs. Fairly good dirt roads along

the ditch banks were recently developed,

partly as a convenience for hunters who

find them useful for access, and for hunt-

ing stands. The hunters cooperate in road

maintenance and brush control with the

lumber companies, which regulate the

hunting rights. Some of the cottages are

used during the summer by those coming

to the Lake for boating and fishing. Nu-

merous visitors to the Lake, including the

curious attracted by the distinctive nature

of the Swamp’s legendary past, come by

small boats up the Feeder Ditch from

Arbuckle Landing. One local citizen there

( Mr. Dunn) has an active summer business

taking parties up the Ditch and around the

Lake with his motorboat.

Natural History Work in the

Dismal Swamp

The chief botanical survey of the area,

based on field work done in 1898, is that

of Kearney (1901). An earlier general

account of the Swamp was given by Shaler

(1890); and Chickering (1873) discussed

the flora briefly. M. L. Fernald of Harvard

University visited the Swamp in the 1930’s,

and various of his plant records are pre-

60

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

sented in a series of papers dealing with

southeastern Virginia, that appeared in

Rhodora beginning in 1935. A Philadelphia

botanist, Bayard Long, collected plants as

well as insects in the area. Roger Rageot,

curator of natural history at the Norfolk

Museum of Arts and Sciences and one of

the best informed students of the Dismal

Swamp, has actively collected vertebrate

animals in the Swamp and adjacent areas

during the past 10 years. He is particularly

interested in snakes, which have attracted

other herpetologists to the area. Charles

Handley of the U.S. National Museum has

collected small mammals.

Among entomologists who have collected

in the Swamp, Austin H. Clark is best

known to Washingtonians. This naturalist,

well known for his broad interests and his

volumes on the butterflies of the District

of Columbia and Virginia, spent more than

15 years preparing (with Mrs. Clark) “The

Butterflies of Virginia” (1951) ; he visited

each of the 100 counties at least twice. One

of his favorite collecting sites was a wood-

land road at the northwest corner of the

Swamp, where by 1939 he had taken 73

species of butterflies (Clark and Clark,

1939). Other well-known collectors of

Lepidoptera who visited the Swamp were

Otto Buchholtz of Westfield, N. J., and

Frank Morton Jones of Wilmington, Del.

Charles Coveil, a student at Virginia Poly-

technic Institute, has made numerous visits

to the northern end of Jericho Ditch, near

the village of Magnolia, where he found

a rich variety of butterflies. Herbert S.

Barber and other Washington entomolo-

gists occasionally have visited the Dismal

Swamp; but it seems fair to say that little

comprehensive insect collecting has been

conducted there except by the Clarks.

In recent years, the Virginia Academy

of Sciences has sponsored a project on the

natural history of the Dismal Swamp; and

reports are being assembled for publica-

tion by J. T. Baldwin, Jr., of the College

of William and Mary.

Collecting Ortlioptera in 1962

In 1962 we collected in the Dismal

Swamp for several days in early July, and

again at the end of August. Each time, we

drove in from Suffolk to the cottage of the

caretaker, Mr. Lynn (Figure 2), where

permission to enter the Swamp was se-

cured; thence we proceeded along parts

of Jericho Ditch, Lynn Ditch, and Wash-

ington Ditch to the the shore of Lake

Drummond, where we camped and col-

lected insects. On each trip we later drove

around to work on the eastern side near

the Dismal Swamp Canal. In July we in-

vestigated the area between the Swamp

and the coast, including Knott’s Island and

Cape Henry.2 In August we collected and

camped one night near South Mills, N. C.,

and also went by boat up the Feeder Ditch

and onto Lake Drummond.

Methods of collecting Orthoptera in-

cluded sweeping grasses and weeds and

beating shrubbery with a net; illuminating

a white sheet with a gasoline pressure lan-

tern and a low-voltage vapor-tube light

for attraction at night; setting glass jars,

baited with molasses, flush with the ground

surface, to attract cockroaches and crick-

ets; and attracting cockroaches and crickets

to dry oatmeal flakes on the forest floor

at night — the so-called “oatmeal trail”

method. Each method produced some

species not obtained in any other way.

Several hundred specimens of Orthop-

tera, representing a total of 45 species, were

obtained. Among them were 4 cockroaches

(all native outdoor species), 2 mantids, 9

katydids, 11 crickets, and 19 grasshoppers.

Included were three species of grasshoppers

from outside the Swamp proper: they oc-

curred only near the coast — one of them a

beach inhabitant, the other two confined

to the vicinity of brackish water which is

not found in the Swamp itself. The Orthop-

tera found are mainly widespread species

of the southern Middle Atlantic states, with

2 On the July trip, three other entomologists

participated, each with separate interests: Don R.

Davis, Microlepidoptera: Oliver S. Flint, Jr.,

Trichoptera and Neuroptera; David C. M. Manson,

general and Acarina. On the August trip, only the

two Gurneys participated.

March, 1963

61

none limited to the southeastern coastal

region. Judging from the species previously

known to occur in Virginia and North

Carolina, a dozen or two additional species

probably live in or near the Swamp. No

camel-crickets (Ceuthophilus) , which are

collected most readily by molasses-baited

jars, were taken in spite of efforts directed

to their detection. This genus is almost

universally present in the Eastern states;

it will be interesting to conduct more ex-

tensive trapping to determine whether the

1962 collecting was simply insufficient, or

whether the Swamp is unsuited to these

insects. Late August is favorable for col-

lecting a maximum number of Orthoptera,

because some species do not mature until

midsummer or later. However, a few occur

as adults in spring and early summer.

Faunistic Affinities of Other

Dismal Swamp Insects

Most of the Trichoptera and Lepidoptera

collected on our 1962 trips are fairly wide-

spread Eastern species. One microlepidop-

teron, Compsolechia cover dalella (Kear-

fott), had not been recorded before from

Virginia or an adjacent State, having been

described from Louisiana; consequently,

its occurrence in the swamp is of much

interest. One trichopteron (caddis-fly),

Cernotina truncona Ross, was described

from Florida and is also known from

southern North Carolina; hence, this

northern extension of the range is an im-

portant addition. A second trichopteron,

Molanna uniophila Vorhies, is known as

an inhabitant of New England and nearby

states, so that it is an example of a normally

northern species penetrating the edge of

the coastal southeast.

In his work on butterflies, Austin Clark

discovered that several species occur in

Virginia only in the southeastern swamps,

some restricted to the Dismal Swamp,

others also reaching north to the Dahl

Swamp in Accomac County, on the East-

ern Shore of Virginia. Clark concluded that

the Dismal Swamp has a sprinkling of

northern species amid the many wide-

spread and the fairly numerous more

southeastern ones, because of pockets of

cold ground water which create localized

areas suitable for northern insects. He

pointed out (Clark, 1937, p. 259) that

oozing ground water along the western

border of the Dismal Swamp produces such

a situation.

A supposedly much more southern but-

terfly, Strymon kingi Klots and Clench,

has been collected by Charles Coveil near

Norfolk. This record is a notable addition

to the distributional “surprises” taken by

the Clarks.

With the possible exception of butterflies,

no group of insects has been collected suf-

ficiently well in the Dismal Swamp to

permit a thorough analysis of its zoo-

geographical affinities. The Swamp fauna

appears not to be peculiar in itself, but is

Lower Austral 3 (Austroriparian) in the

main. Some primarily northern insect

species and others, usually found farther

south than Virginia, occur. This situation

agrees with the conclusions of Kearney

(1901), who found that the plants show a

mixture of affinities but that the largest

number are Lower Austral. He pointed out

that some northern ferns and sedges have

found in the cool, wet soil of the Swamp, a

habitat that marks their most southern

limits.

Refined analyses of insect distribution in

the United States are still fragmentary, in

spite of considerable scattered information

in literature and large but incompletely

studied collections in museums. Some

species that appear to be freaks of distri-

bution, when first found in an area far

from the usual range, later prove to be

very widespread. Insects of the Dismal

Swamp well illustrate this point. There

simply has been too little comprehensive

collecting to support final conclusions as

3 Lower Austral is the term given by C. Hart

Merriam many years ago to the Life Zone which

comprises most of the southern United States,

particularly in the Southeast, minus the tropical

portion of peninsular Florida. Along the Atlantic

Coast, this zone extends northward to approxi-

mately the mouth of the Potomac River.

62

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

to number of species present or distribu-

tional relationships, beyond the general

impressions which now are evident. Even

if a thorough survey were made, it could

be fully meaningful only after the entire

eastern fauna is better understood than it

is at present.

The Dismal Swamp is an interesting

place to collect insects, and for most groups

has a rich fauna which will well repay the

serious collector for his efforts. With the

rapid elimination of many excellent col-

lecting grounds and the problem of finding

large natural habitats for undisturbed

work, it is stimulating to have this fine,

unspoiled region nearby.

Literature Cited

Ariza, John F. 1932. Dismal Swamp in legend and

history. Natl. Geog. Mag. 62, 121-130 (illus.l.

Chickering, J. W. 1873. The flora of the Dismal

S’wamp. Amer. Naturalist 7, 521-524.

Clark, Austin H. 1937. Surveying the butterflies

of Virginia. Sci. Monthly 45, 256-265.

Clark, Austin H., and Clark, Leila F. 1939. Butter-

flies of a wood road at Suffolk, Virginia. Ent.

News 50, 1-5.

Clark, Austin H., and Clark, Leila F. 1951. The

butterflies of Virginia. Smithsonian Misc. Col-

lections 116 (No. 7), 1-239 (31 pis.).

Davis, Hubert J. 1962. The great Dismal Swamp.

Cavalier Press, Richmond, Va. (1-182, illus.) .

Kearney, Thomas H. 1901. Report on a botanical

survey of the Dismal Swamp region. Contrib.

U. S. Natl. Herbarium 5 (No. 6), 321-585 (pis.

65-77. text-figs. 51-90, maps 1, 2).

Shaler, N. S’. 1890. General account of the fresh-

water morasses of the United States, with a

description of the Dismal Swamp district of

Virginia and North Carolina. 10th Ann. Rept.

Director U. S. Geol. Surv. 255-339 (pis. 6-19,

text-figs. 2-38).

The Personal Side of a Research Project

Archibald T. McPherson *

Associate Director , Office of Technical Services , Department of Commerce

This is a story from real life about

Richard, Daniel, their mother, and a series

of studies on field mice. Also concerned in

the story are the boys’ father, whose job

keeps him away from home much of the

time, a curator of the Smithsonian Institu-

tion, and other scientists.

The Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Re-

search is presenting this story because all

too often the human side of research is left

unrecorded. Only occasionally, by reading

between the lines of published reports, is

it possible to conjecture some of the many

problems, difficulties, and disappointments

that were encountered, and some of the

rewards and satisfactions that came from

doing the work. The principal characters

in this story have cooperated in preparing

this account, and it is presented, for the

most part, in their own words. The Com-

* Dr. McPherson is chairman of the Academy’s

Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Research.

mittee hopes that this account may aid in

stimulating the collaboration of sons and

daughters with scientist parents in worth-

while original investigations.

Background

The Mother speaks: “It would be very

convenient for me if I could say that I set

out deliberately to prepare my two sons

for careers in science, but such is not the

case so this article is difficult to write.

“Just as scientific discoveries can seldom

be foreseen, likewise just which contact or

combination of circumstances will be the

‘magic button’ that releases the latent

capabilities of a child cannot be predicted.

Sometimes it may not be what we do, as

parents, but what we do not do that brings

results. With this in mind, I shall try to

give an account of our efforts.

“Since I have been a bird bander for

the Fish and Wildlife Service for 13 years

on a voluntary basis, the boys were aware

March, 1963

63

more than most children of the problems

connected with research. They saw the

reams of records which had to be kept

faithfully and the constant vigilance that

had to be maintained to keep stray cats and

dogs from harming the birds in traps and

nets. Also, they knew that their mother

worked hard without pay while other work-

ing mothers in the neighborhood bought

expensive toys for their children and lived

in houses whose living rooms could almost

hold their entire home. For me there was

no choice. I had to pursue the mystery of

‘where the wild bird flieth.’ Also, next to

baseball, both boys enjoyed the birds and

found their greatest enjoyment in bird

walks and family outings with the Virginia

Society of Ornithology.”

How the Project Started

In his request for a grant from the

Washington Academy of Sciences, Richard

describes the beginning of his project very

concisely as follows: “I first became aware

of the rodent situation at Dulles Airport

during a field trip with the Northern Vir-

ginia Chapter of the Virginia Society of

Ornithology in November 1959, on which I

saw a large concentration of hawks and

short-eared owls. While observing the birds

of prey, I noticed that the ground was

honeycombed with runs and small holes.

Mice were seen running everywhere. I

asked Dr. C. 0. Handley, Jr., mammalogist

of the U. S. National Museum, to suggest

a science project. He said, ‘You are stand-

ing on the best one I know of.’ I took

his suggestion and began an intensive

study of the mouse eruption.”

The Mother fills in the details: “

Since the boys had always pretended that

they could not take a tangled bird out of

a net, their decision to study the mouse

eruption at Dulles Airport was not met

with any enthusiasm from me. The diffi-

culty of working 20 miles from home and

checking traps at least twice a day and

the problem of getting back to school on

time, made the idea seem too amibitious

and too costly for boys who had never done

any serious work before. But something

happened to them on that cold, gray No-

vember morning in 1959 as we stood on

ground spongy from mouse runs and

watched the hawks and owls wheel and

swoop for their prey. The study of ecology

had real meaning for them for the first

time. So dramatic was nature’s perform-

ance that a curiosity was born that no

practical consideration could dampen.

“They were adamant. I was equally de-

termined that it should be a real scientific

study and not just another science project.

Because Dr. Handley was leaving for Pana-

ma shortly, I told them that we would

cooperate if they met certain conditions.

First, it had to be a joint project and each

had to keep meticulous daily notes as a

check on each other’s accuracy. Finally,

I was not going to skin a single mouse!

“ Since then I have had reason

to regret that last statement. Several times

when they have been bowed down with

routine assignments, I have suggested that

I could do some trapping. ‘And what would

you do with the specimens, Mother?’ was

the reply in such a condescending manner,

that I have not had the nerve to reply, ‘You

could teach me.’ ”

Conduct of the Investigation

Richard describes the purpose and

method of the investigation in impersonal

terms as follows: “ The purpose of

my investigation was: (1) To compare

the density of mice per acre at Dullas Air-

port with acres of similar habitat away

from the airport. (2) To determine the

extent of the eruption. (3) To follow any

relative change in the population. (4) To

find the predator-prey relationship between

the short-eared owl and the mice. (5) To

determine, if possible, the cause of the

mouse eruption.

“ Methods . The density studies were per-

formed by using saturation trappings,

which consists of setting 100 traps per

acre for three consecutive nights. This is

the standard method of determining the

number of small mammals per acre. ‘Mu-

seum Special’ snap traps were used. These

are similar to ordinary household mouse

64

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

traps but are larger. They are designed to

kill the mouse in such a manner that the

skull is not crushed, as the skull is most

important in the identification of a mam-

mal.

“Moistened oatmeal was used for bait,

and the traps were checked at least once

a day. The extent of the eruption was

calculated by making local inquiries, by

observing birds of prey, and by trapping.

The progress of the eruption was deter-

mined by trapping in different areas over

a period of two years.

“Specimens of each species caught were

carefully measured and preserved by skin-

ning according to museum standards and

deposited in the collection of the U. S.

National Museum, Washington, D. C.

“The predator-prey relationship between

the short-eared owl and the mice was de-

termined each winter by an analysis of

short-eared owl pellets. A pellet is a

cylindrical piece of undigested hair and

bone which is regurgitated by the owl.”

The results of the investigation will not

be given here, since they have been pub-

lished in The Junior Science and Humani-

ties Symposium Brochure (Walter Reed

Army Institute of Research, Washington,

D. C.). Richard comments on the investi-

gation as follows: “ One of the most

rewarding byproducts of the study was

the trapping of rare mice. While trapping

on one of the comparative acres on January

j 3, 1960, the first record of the eastern

harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys humulis,

was obtained for Fairfax County since

1902. An article on this mouse was pub-

lished in the November issue of the Journal

of Mammalogy. On December 7, 1960, the

first specimens for Virginia of the prairie

deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus

hairdii , were taken on Site ‘E’ at the air-

port. In August of 1961, I caught an ad-

normally white-spotted meadow jumping

mouse, Zapus hudsonius, 1.1 miles south-

southwest of Merrifield, in Fairfax County,

Virginia. The specimen was requested by

the U. S. National Museum and represents

the only one in their collection.”

March, 1963

The discovery that the prairie deer

mouse had migrated eastward to Virginia

was reported by Daniel in the Journal of

Mammalogy (Vol. 43, p. 98, February

1962), as follows:

“Ever since the paririe deer mouse,

Peromyscus maniculatus hairdii, started its

march eastward, it has been the subject

of many biological papers as it was cap-

tured in new states. From our trapping

data in northern Virginia, hairdii now ap-

pears to have become established in the

State. (William H. Stickel (Proc. Biol. Soc.

Wash. 64: 25) reported that Osgood (1909)

only knew this mouse from Central Ohio,

but by 1949 it had spread to the states of

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York,

Tennessee, and Maryland.)

“The first four Virginia specimens of

hairdii were trapped 2.6 miles north-north-

west of Chantilly at the Dulles Interna-

tional Airport on an abandoned field,

sloping down to Cub Run, with moderately

thick cover of grass and weeds. Dr. Hand-

ley confirmed our identification and sug-

gested further trapping. After line-trapping

in adjoining fields with his help, it was

concluded that the mice probably had

moved into the area recently. But they are

now established in view of their relative

abundance and distribution.”

Extension of the Investigation

Richard entered Randolph-Macon Col-

lege at Ashland, Va., in the fall of 1962.

His mother reports that “ he is

enjoying his courses in biology and history.

He misses dinner sometimes in order to

spend five hours or more in the laboratory.

His professor has bought traps and other

supplies so that he can make a collection

of mammals for Hanover County while he

is at college ”

Daniel, who had been working with

Richard, continued the study of Virginia

field mice over a larger area, with the as-

sistance of a grant from the Washington

Academy of Sciences. In Daniel’s words:

“After I trapped the prairie deer mouse

near Warrenton on Route 17 in August, I

decided to undertake a more ambitious

65

study. As you know, Route 17 runs SE

down the middle peninsula to Gloucester

County. 1 now plan to use an old farm

house there as ‘home base’ and trap in the

counties of Essex, Middlesex, Mathews,

King and Queen, and Gloucester. No work

has been done at all in this area and two

weekend trips have already yielded new

records for Zapus, Blarina, and Reith-

rodontomys. Dr. Handley is especially in-

terested in obtaining specimens of Blarina

from the Tappahannock area. In this way I

can add to the study of mamals in general

while still studying bairdii in particular.”

The Parents’ Part in the

Investigation

A paper by Daniel on “The Prairie Deer

Mouse in Northern Virginia” contains an

acknowledgment to his mother for check-

ing traps while he was at school, to his

father for typing the manuscript, and to

Dr. Handley for assistance in the identifi-

cation of specimens. This brief acknowledg-

ment only hints at what went on in the field

work or the impact on the home life. The

Mother tells more about this as follows:

“. . . As a parent, one of my tasks has

been to convince the teachers that the field

study of mammals is important enough to

warrant taking time out from school. This

is especially true since Daniel has been

working 100-140 miles from home this

fall. Again it takes time to convince the

owner of the area on which you wish to

trap that you are serious. With the sun-

light already fading, Daniel has to start

his trap line while I try to find the owner.

We always find people cooperative, but it

does take time to answer questions and to

reassure them.

“When working in unfamiliar territory,

in order to conserve both time and expense,

it is of practical importance to be able to

select the most productive habitats. Here is

where past experience and keen observa-

tion pay off. Such things as amount and

type of cover, number of years a field has

been fallow, and the glimpse of a hawk

may tell as much as actual examination

for runs and other mammal signs. No less

important are the nuisance factors to be

avoided in order to obtain the maximum

‘catch.’

“As to the use of the refrigerator for

specimens, etc., we have given the boys

the privilege of using anything in the house

needed for their study. In return they have

given us their confidence and the comfort

of their presence while they were en-

grossed in their work. It is true that my

living room, in addition to being strewn

with bird feathers and wet leaves, now has

boxes of pinned insects on the table and

the piano seems to be the favorite display

place for the last collection of mammals.

Also there are strings of small skulls hang-

ing in the basement and a colony of

dermestid beetles live in a tin under

Daniel’s bed.”

Consequences of the Study

The boys received awards in Science

Fairs and recognition in the Future Sci-

entists of America contest, but their Mother

states: “Both boys consider the following

their best prizes: (1) The privilege of

going with Dr. Handley on a two-week

collecting trip to southwest Virginia last

June; and (2) the opportunity of working

on a natural history inventory of Wildcat

Mountain near Warrenton, Va. under the

direction of Dr. Raymond Fosberg.”

Further, she notes, “. . . I do not know

whether they will ever be true research

scientists and work in a laboratory and

make a big salary as most people envision,

but they are developing strength of char-

acter and work habits which are important

no matter how they may have to make a

livelihood.”

66

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

MARCH MEETING

(472nd Meeting of the Washington Aca<leniy of Sciences)

SPEAKER: Raymond J. Seeger

Special Assistant to the Director,

National Science Foundation

SUBJECT : On the Sociology of Science

DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1963

8:15 P. M.

PLACE: John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Cluh

2170 Florida Avenue, N. W.

Abstract of Address — Science for the sake of science is not sufficient, though necessary,

for its own growth; science for the sake of man is a sine qua non. Why, then, does the

sociology of science lag behind the increasing role of science in society? Is it because

sociology itself is not properly a science? What, indeed, is a science? To what extent, if

any, can the development of science be planned? Is the obvious lag owing to different

systems of social thought being too intimately related to the philosophy of science, too

deeply embedded in the technology of society? How can the history of science and tech-

nology be of assistance in our attempt to achieve a more scientific understanding about

science as a social phenomenon?

The Speaker — Born in Elizabeth, N. J., Raymond J. Seeger received the B.A. degree

from Rutgers University in 1926 and, in 1929, the Ph.D. degree from Yale University,

where he was a Loomis fellow. He holds honorary D.Sc. degrees from Kent State Uni-

versity and Dubuque University. He began his professional life as an associate professor

of physics, first at Presbyterian College in South Carolina, then, from 1930 to 1946, at

George Washington University. Then followed six years with the Naval Ordnance Lab-

oratory. In 1952 he went to the National Science Foundation, assuming his present posi-

tion of special assistant to the director in 1962. He has continuously maintained contact

with the academic world, and is now adjunct professor of physics at American University.

Dr. Seeger spent his sabbatical leave last year at the University of Oxford, studying not

only theoretical physics but also his other absorbing interest, the history and philosophy

of science.

March, 1963

67

THE BROWNSTONE TOWER

Wishing to write

on legislative mat-

ters. a field in

which I. like most

scientists, am not

at home, I con-

suited my old

friend, Joseph S.

Lawrence, M.D..

who before his re-

tirement was the

lobbyist for the American Medical Associ-

ation in Washington. He knows how im-

portant it is to inform Congressional lead-

ers of the significance of technical bills

while they are in committee. A professional

man of wisdom and integrity, he repre-

sented the medical profession in the public

interest and performed a real public serv-

ice. He responded most cordially to my

request for help.

1 told Dr. Lawrence that some of the

leaders of the Washington Academy of

Sciences are concerned about a current

bill (S.533) that is intended “to provide

(by regulation and enforcement) for the

humane treatment of vertebrate animals

used in experiments and tests by recipients

of grants from the United States.” We

doubt, I said, that the Committee on Labor

and Public Welfare, to whom the bill was

referred, will have a complete picture of

the possible consequences of such legisla-

tion unless interested and knowledgeable

scientists take the trouble to tell the com-

mittee what effect it would have, if passed,

on them and their work. Dr. Lawrence ad-

vised that a representative of the Academy

should visit the chairman to discuss the

bill, and that the president of the Academy

should request in writing that the chair-

man invite a representative of the Academy

to testify, if and when hearings are held.

Informative letters to the chairman from

individual users of laboratory animals

also will be helpful. Please remember that

these proposed actions would not interfere

with the legislative process but would

assist it; that the right to be heard is also

a civic duty.

Now I should like to comment on S.533

and similar bills. The intent of these bills

is worthy; no normal person would de-

liberately cause unnecessary pain in any

animal. But by implication the bill charges

all users of laboratory animals with acts of

cruelty, which, it implies, can be prevented

only by policing the users and threatening

them with the loss of grant funds if they

do not comply. The Committee in charge of

the bill needs to know whether this alleged

cruelty actually exists and to what extent,

with respect to what animals, used for

what purposes. And what criteria are used

to draw the conclusion that the animals are

actually suffering “pain and fear”? Pre-

sumably the proponents of the bill can

supply such information.

If considerable demonstrable abuse of

animals is found, the next question to ask

is whether the objective of protecting the

animals cannot be attained by the prepara-

tion and dissemination of information and

recommendations; for example, by the

Department of Health. Education and Wel-

fare; the Institute of Laboratory Animal

Resources, NAS-NRC; or the Animal Care

Panel. This would be a positive step that

would recognize the humanity of most

scientists and technicians and would as-

sume that existing abuses are the result of

ignorance or carelessness. Corrective super-

vision by professional personnel might be

anticipated, since the best scientific results

are to be expected from “contented” ani-

mals. The Animal Care Panel, as the name

implies, is trying to improve animal care

not only for humanitarian reasons but also

because sound animals give reliable results.

There needs no Government appear with

a big stick to force users of animals to do

what is obviously to their advantage. If

education in animal care and treatment is

believed to be insufficient to take care of

the situation, the Government might be

helpful by offering support for the im-

68

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

provement of housing and equipment used

in care and treatment of animals.

Nevertheless, the Committee may be

persuaded that users of laboratory animals

are irresponsible and that nothing but

strict licensing and policing of their work

will give real protection to the animals. In

that case the Committee should know what

this proposed regulatory activity will cost

in terms of money and of scientific man-

power and, more important, what effect it

may have on medical research and training,

and indirectly on public health. Investi-

gators and teachers subject to the harrass-

ments of licensing, record keeping, and re-

porting will not be able to do as much work

as they could without it. Indeed, their

incentive and motivation may be consider-

ably dampened. I repeat, every user of

laboratory animals should tell the Com-

mittee on Labor and Public Welfare how

this bill, if passed, would affect him and

his work. Then the well-informed Com-

mittee can decide whether the gain that

might be made under the bill would justify

the cost of it.

— Frank L. Campbell

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Prospect Harbor, Maine

January 29, 1963

Dear Sir:

On my return from a conference with

the Department of Economic Development

in Augusta, I was much pleased to see that

you had transmitted my offer of assistance

to those who may contemplate visiting

Maine this coming summer to observe the

eclipse. For more specific information re-

garding sites for observations and weather

probabilities, you may care to refer your

readers to a series of articles in the Decem-

ber 1962, and January and February 1963

issues of Sky and Telescope ( Sky Publish

ing Company, 49 Bay State Road, Cam-

bridge 38, Mass.). The last of these con-

tains important notice that Acadia National

Park has set aside certain areas as reserved

for exclusive use of scientific parties with

programs of observation, and that space

may be applied for by addressing Harold

A. Hubler, superintendent, Acadia National

Park, Bar Harbor, Maine.

In addition, this material is supple-

mented by information which is now being

assembled for general distribution by the

Department of Economic Development

free on request. It is also contemplated that

about May 1, a special strip map of the

path of totality will be available, showing

not only the principal highways, but also

the byways leading to favorable sites.

You have my present geographic posi-

tion correctly stated, but for 24 hours

prior to the eclipse this will be approxi-

mately lat. 44° 21' 04.530"N, long. 68°

13' 37.542"W (North American datum of

1927) or in other words, the top of

Cadillac, as Mr. Hubler has asked me to

assist in looking out for parties that make

reservations for space.

It certainly would be a pleasure to meet

members of the Academy, and I appreciate

your conveying this thought to your

readers.

Sincerely,

Carroll F. Merriam

(Mr. Merriam refers to the total solar eclipse

that will occur on July 20, 1963; the path of

totality will pass through the neighborhood of

Prospect Harbor. (See also the January issue of

this Journal, page 11.) On the day of the eclipse,

Mr. Merriam will be stationed, not at Prospect

Harbor, but rather atop Cadillac Mountain (el.

1530 feet), which is located within Acadia Na-

tional Park, about 2.5 miles SbyW of Bar Harbor.

—Ed.)

March, 1963

69

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

ORGANIZATION FOR 1963

Officers

Managers

(EM 2-4040 X7855 ; home WA 7-4659)

Delegates of Affiliated Societies

See inside rear cover.

70

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Editor

Associate Editors

The Journal

Samuel B. Detwiler, Jr.

Frank L. Campbell

Harold T. Cook

Richard P. Farrow

Russell B. Stevens

John K. Taylor

Lawrence A. Wood

Department of Agriculture

(DU 8-6548; home JA 7-8775)

National Academy of Sciences

Department of Agriculture

National Canners Association

George Washington University

National Bureau of Standards

National Bureau of Standards

Summary Annual Report of Secretary for 1962

The Secretary’s annual report of Acad-

emy activities in 1962 is intended to supple-

ment, and in some instances summarize,

detailed reports of other officers and com-

mittee chairmen.

Membership. The following changes in

membership occurred between the secre-

tary’s report in January 1962 and January

31, 1963: Sixty-nine new members quali-

fied for membership; thirty-five members

resigned and four were dropped from the

rolls; seven members changed to emeritus

status; eighteen members changed from

resident to nonresident with four reversing

the process, changing from nonresident to

resident status.

The following deaths were reported on

the dates indicated where known: Ray S.

Bassler, October 3, 1961; Charles S. Gil-

man, January 25, 1962; W. F. G. Swann,

January 29, 1962; L. B. Tuckerman, Feb-

ruary 4, 1962; Oscar S. Adams, March 4,

1962; Eugene C. Sullivan, May 12, 1962;

Erich Mosettig, May 31, 1962; Arthur C.

Christie, Maurice B. Linford, William D.

Strong and Harry Wexler.

Meetings. Except for the November and

March meetings of the Academy, all regu-

lar meetings in 1962 were held in the John

Wesley Powell Auditorium of the Cosmos

Club. The November meeting was held in

the lecture hall of the National Academy

of Sciences, and the March meeting at the

Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Philip H. Abelson, retiring president,

addressed the 463rd regular meeting of the

Academy on February 15, 1962, on the

subject, “Long Term Fate of Biochemi-

cals.”

“Energetic Particles Near the Earth,”

was the subject of the address of James A.

Van Allen of the State University of Iowa,

at the 464th meeting on March 22.

The 465th meeting of the Academy on

April 19 was sponsored jointly with the

Washington Junior Academy of Sciences.

The speaker was Prof. Samuel Bilenberg

of Columbia University, on the subject,

“New Horizons in Pure Mathematics.”

Marshall Nirenberg of the National In-

stitutes of Health (winner of the 1962 WAS

award for scientific achievement in the

biological sciences), addressed the Acad-

emy at its 466th meeting on May 17, on

“Characteristics of Genetic Coding Units.”

In view of the great interest in insecti-

cides as a result of the publication of

Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring,”

President Van Evera, acting as Meetings

Committee chairman, arranged a panel

discussion for the 467th meeting on Octo-

ber 18, on the subject, “Insecticides: Bene-

fit or Peril?” Clarence Hoffman of the

Agricultural Research Service, L^SDA,

spoke of the benefits; Walter Dykstra of

the Fish and Wildlife Service, Department

of the Interior, spoke of the perils: and

Russell Stevens of George Washington

University served as a “neutral.”

Merredith P. Crawford of George Wash-

ington University, director of HumRRO,

was the lecturer at the 468th meeting of

March, 1963

71

the Academy of November 28. His subject

was. “Practical Aspects of Behavioral Sci-

ences.’*

John D. Hoffman of the National Bureau

of Standards, who received the Academy’s

award for scientific achievement in the

physical sciences in 1961, was the lecturer

at the 469th meeting of the Academy on

December 20. on the subject, “The Crystal-

lization of Linear Polymers with Chain

Folding.’*

The 470th meeting of the Academy on

January 17, 1963 was concerned with the

“Biological Exploration of Space,” pre-

sented by Freeman H. Quimby of the Na-

tional Aeronautics and Space Administra-

tion.

The annual dinner, usually held in Janu-

ary and devoted to listening to the retiring

president, was held this year on February

21, 1963; this situation was made possible

and reasonable because B. D. Van Evera,

president for 1962, succeeded himself as

president for 1963. Featuring the dinner

was the presentation of Academy awards

for scientific achievement in 1962 to:

Marshall Nirenberg of the National Insti-

tutes of Health (biological sciences) ; Lin-

dell E. Steele of the Naval Research Labora-

tory (engineering sciences) ; Bruce L.

Reinhart of the University of Maryland

(mathematics) ; Edward A. Mason of the

University of Maryland (physical sci-

ences) ; and Rev. Francis J. Heyden of

Georgetown University (teaching of sci-

ence ) .

Miscellany. One of the highlights of the

year was a dinner on April 4 at George-

town University, arranged by Abner Bren-

ner. chairman of the Committee for the

Encouragement of Science Talent, to

honor outstanding high school science stu-

dents. Forty-four certificates of merit and

technical books of their choice were pre-

sented to these students. The program

included presentation of the certificates and

books by President Van Evera, and a talk

by Chester Page on “Mathematics: A Use-

ful Game.”

Upon recommendation of the committee

headed by A. T. McPherson, the Academy’s

Board approved nine grants-in-aid for

aspiring young scientists to pursue per-

sonal science projects, and authorized the

American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science to disburse $740.00 for

this purpose.

The Academy operated most of the year

without a president-elect, since the incum-

bent, Heinz Specht, was sent to Japan by

the Office of International Research, and

will remain there for two years.

Volume 52 of the Academy’s Journal

appeared during the year, in nine issues

having a total of 228 pages. Eight of the

issues, as in 1961, contained a variety of

articles by leading area scientists, review-

ing the status of research in a number of

important fields; special reports on science

education and other major Academy pro-

grams; and news concerning the Acad-

emy’s organization, plans, and accomplish-

ments. The ninth issue appearing in

September, contained a directory of the

membership, classified alphabetically, by

place of employment, and by membership

in affiliated societies. It is expected that

the directory will continue as a regular

annual feature of the Journal, rather than

as an occassional separate publication as

in previous years.

— George W. Irving, Jr., Secretary, 1962

72

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Summary Annual Report of Treasurer for 1962

Washington Academy of Sciences

Statement of Receipts and Disbursements

Receipts

Dues:

1961 $ 52.50

1962 8,790.75

1963 167.75

Subscriptions to Journal:

1961 36.75

1962 735.25

1963 925.50

1964 13.50

1965 6.75

Sales of back issues of Journal

Sales of Journal reprints

Miscellaneous sales

Meetings and committees

Tax reimbursement

Grants reimbursed

Dividends and interest

Capital receipts

Reimbursements and refunds

Junior Academy receipts undistributed

Total receipts

Balance carried forward from 1961

Total

Disbursements

Journal:

Printing and mailing 8 budgeted issues plus directory (September) issue $6,941.36

Reprints 406.80

Secretary (printing and office expenses)

Treasurer (printing, postage, miscellaneous)

Meetings Committee:

Rental of Cosmos Club auditorium 1,307.46

Printing, notices, etc. 800.74

Outright grants:

Joint Board 500.00

Academy conference 21.62

Summer education program 200.00

Science talent activities 250.00

Junior Academy Proceedings 68.17

Reimbursable grants:

Loguirato 41 .60

Smul 39.00

Gurney 150.00

Thomas 75.00

S’teakley 75.00

Peacock 100.00

Tibbits 54.00

Curtis 200.00

March, 1963

$ 9,011.00

1,717.75

1,289.57

247.90

45,65

521.75

117.32

750.60

2,951.30

752.93

136.26

190.00

$17,732.03

5,680.70

$23,412.73

$ 7,348.16

1,133.25

142.14

2,108.20

1,039.79

690.60

73

Headquarters office:

Supplies, postage, equipment (purchase of duplicator and adding machine

shared with Joint Board) 1,174.42

Salaries (assistant treasurer and occasional help) 2,449.96 3,624.38

Taxes (withholding on social security, Federal income, D. C. income) :

Academy 439.64

Advance to Joint Board (reimbursable) 1,283.25 1,722.89

Science talent awards, dinner, etc. 210.95

Science calendar 74.00

Refunds (back issues of Journal not available) 91.85

Packing expenses (reimbursable) 264.92

Miscellaneous 34.78

Total $18,485.91

Balance carried forward to 1963 4,926.82

Total $23,412.73

Income Account

Receipts, less capital Expenditures

and Junior Academy $16,777.10 Accounts payable:

Accounts receivable: Joint Board, 2/5 of

Joint Board $ 200.00 exec, secy’s salary

Joint Board taxes 1,404.25 Joint Board, taxes

W. J. Johnson 309.00 1,913.25 on same

Sub-total $18,690.35

Excess exp./rec 1,160.62

$19,850.97

$18,473.91

1,256.66

120.40

$19,850.97

Cash Account

Membership and Dues

New members, 1962: Elected, 59; qualified, 47.

Delinquent (billed for third time

12/14/62) :

1960 or previous 6

1961 15

1962 62 83

Life members 10

Retired :

Paying $2.00 1

Paying $3.75 4 5

Dues excused, 1962 22

Dues paid:

1962 904

1963 21 925

Investments

Dividends Received

Massachusetts Investors Trust (plus 107 shares @ 1633.20) $ 831.49

Investment Company of America (including capital gains dividend 382.16) 584.48

State Street Investment Company (plus 3 shares @ 106.50) 65.53

Washington Mutual Investment Fund (including capital gains dividend 847.50) 1,423.80

Discount earned on Treasury bills 34.00

Total $2,939.30

74

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Capital Funds

(as of 1/4/63)

2829 shares Massachusetts Investors Trust @ 13.42 bid $37,965.18

1124 shares Investment Company of America @ 9.54 10,722.96

61 shares State Street Investment Company @ 35.50 2,165.50

1695 shares Washington Mutual Investment Fund @ 9.91 16,797.43

Capital cash (sold $800 New York City Corporate Stock, 6/20/62) 752.93

Income cash 4,173.89

Total $72,577.89

Summary of Assets

( market value and cash)

Stocks ...

Cash

Total

1/1/62 12/21/62

$78,117.38 $67,651.07

5,680.70 4,926.82

$83,798.08 $72,577.89

Joint Board on Science Education

Balance carried forward from 1961 $10,077.46

Receipts:

From National Science Foundation $18,600.00

Other 456.60 19,056.60

Total $29,134.06

Expenditures (paid through WAS) 20,202.38

Balance carried forward to 1963 $ 8,931.68

Assets

Cash in checking account

1/1/62

$10,077.46

12/21/62

$8,931.68

Washington Junior Academy of Sciences

Savings Checking

account account

Balances carried forward from 1961 $2,149.28 $ 403.25

Receipts 1,090.64 5,129.72

Total $3,239.92 $5,532.97

Expenditures (paid through WAS) 1,800.00 5,183.38

Balances carried forward to 1963 $1,439.92 $ 349.59

Total

$2,552.53

6,220.36

$8,772.89

6,983.38

$1,789.51

Assets

Cash in checking and savings accounts $1,789.51

On deposit with WAS 190.00

Total Sl.979.5l

— Malcolm C. Henderson, Treasurer, 1962

March, 1963

75

1963 Budget Approved

The following budget for 1963 was approved by the Board of Managers at its meet-

ing of February 12. For comparative purposes, estimated and actual figures for 1962

also are included.

Receipts

Dues

Journal subscriptions, back issues, reprints

interest, dividends

Services to Joint Board

Receipts from meetings, committees, dinners

Acct. receivable from W. J. Johnson, Inc.

Estd. sales of back issues by W. J. Johnson, Inc.

Total

Expenses

Journal printing, addressing, postage, miscellaneous

Reprints

Grants

Meetings Committee (hall, refreshments, etc.)

Secretary (printing, mailing, list maintenance)

Treasurer (headquarters office equipment, printing, mailing, etc.)

Part-time assistant treasurer and occasional help in headquarters

office

Executive secretary at Academy headquarters 7

.Miscellaneous debits (packing, tips, Christmas fund, parking,

taxis, etc.)

Total

1 Sale of back issues is now handled by W. J. Johnson, Inc., of New York City.

2 Reprints are eventually a reimbursable item, and are omitted in 1963.

3 Eight issues, not including Directory issue.

4 Nine issues, including Directory issue.

5 Breakdown: Committee on S’cience Education, for summer program, etc., 784.79; Committee on

Encouragement of Science Talent, 406.60; Committee on Awards for Scientific Achievement, 54.35;

science calendar, 74.00.

6 About $380 was paid for adding machine, duplicator, etc., which are shared with the Joint Board.

7 Represents two-fifths of salary in 1962, one-fifth in 1963.

8 Of this, $264.92 is a non-recurring packing expense, for which the Academy is to be reimbursed.

76

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Summary of Journal Operations for 1962 (Volume 52)

(At the beginning of 1962, the Board approved a budget item of $6,500 for eight issues of the

Journal (January through May, and October through December) ; it later authorized publication of a

ninth (September) issue, containing the directory of members. These nine issues contained 228 pages

of text, as compared with 148 pages for eight issues in 1961.)

Income Credits 2

Subscriptions

Sale of back issues

Total

Reprints 3

Reprint income received

Plus reprint income due

Minus reprint costs

Net reprint income

Summary

Journal expenses

Minus income credits

Minus income on reprints

Net cost of Journal

1 Obligated in year.

2 Received in year.

3 Income earned, expenses obligated in year.

March. 1963

Science in Washington

SCIENTISTS IN THE NEWS

Contributions to this column may be

addressed to Harold T. Cook, Associate

Editor, c/o U. S. Department of Agricul-

ture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Room

2628 South Building, Washington 25, D.C.

APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY

R. E. Gibson, director, addressed man-

agement teams at David Taylor Model

Basin on January 17; the title of his talk

was, “Systems Approach to Management

of Research and Development.” On

January 11 Dr. Gibson addressed an

audience at the Catonsville (Md.) Com-

munity College on the subject, “Cultural

Implications of Scientific Research.”

A. M. Stone participated in the

Strategy for Peace Conference at Airlie

House, Warrenton, Va., January 24-26.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

A. L. Ryall served as a U.S. delegate

to the United Nations Conference on Ap-

plication of Science and Technology for

the Benefit of Less Developed Areas, held

in Geneva February 2-19. He was dis-

cussion leader of sessions on transportation

of perishables, and on handling, storage,

and processing of agriculture produce.

Karl H. Norris was recently awarded

a USDA Certificate of Merit for his

achievements in the development of instru-

ments and techniques for rapid, nonde-

structive measurement of quality in agri-

cultural commodities.

John W. Mitchell was recently selec-

ted as one of the original 12 for the new

Alumni Hall of Fame at the University of

Idaho.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

S. Kenneth Love has received a dis-

tinguished service citation from the De-

partment of the Interior, in recognition of

exceptional contributions in the field of

water resources during continuous service

of more than 34 years in the Geological

Survey.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

UNIVERSITY

B. D. Van Evera and President

Thomas H. Carroll visited George Wash-

ington University research units at Fort

Knox, Ky., Fort Bliss, Texas, and the

Presidio of Monterey, Calif., during the

last two weeks of December.

W. F. Sager of the Department of

Chemistry gave a talk on application of

linear free energy relationships to bio-

chemical systems, at the Chemistry Semi-

nar, Catholic University, on January 4.

HARRIS RESEARCH

LABORATORIES

Milton Harris participated in a con-

ference on Engineering Education and the

Development of Industrial Technology on

January 29, at a meeting of the Commis-

sion on Engineering Education in Wash-

ington.

Milton Harris and Alfred E. Brown

attended the annual meeting of the

Gillette Company directors of research on

January 23-25: this year the meeting was

held at the Paper Mate Laboratories in

Santa Monica. Calif.

On the same trip. Dr. Brown also visited

USDA’s Western Regional Research Lab-

oratory at Albany, Calif., and gave a semi-

nar on technical activities at HRL.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

HEALTH

Aaron S. Posner has been appointed

chief of the newly-established Crystal

Chemistry Section of the Laboratory of

Histology and Pathology, National In-

stitute of Dental Research. Before join-

ing the NIDR staff in June 1961, Dr.

Posner was an American Dental Associa-

78

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

tion Research Associate at the National

Bureau of Standards.

NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY

William A. Geyger has been named

as the outstanding writer of a technical

paper on instrumentation for 1962, by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics

Engineers. Dr. Geyger received $100 and

a certificate of award at the winter meeting

of IEEE on January 28. The paper was

entitled, “The Ring-Core Magnetometer—

a New Type of Second Harmonic Flux-Gate

Magnetometer.”

Horace M. Trent, chief of the Applied

Mathematics Staff, is presently serving a

three-year term as a member of the Coun-

cil of Acoustical Society of America. Dr.

Trent has been invited to spend 16 weeks

at Dartmouth College, commencing Febru-

ary 3, in a study of the basic curriculum

of the Thayer School of Engineering.

Peter King, associate director of re-

search for materials, recently completed

the Weapons Orientation Advance Course

at Sandia Air Force Base, Albuquerque,

N.M.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Richard S. Cowan has been moved

from the Department of Botany, where he

was associate curator of phanerogams, to

the Director’s Office, where he is assistant

director. Waldo R. Wedel is the new

head curator of anthropology, succeeding

T. D. Stewart, who was recently made

director of the Museum. Dr. Wedel was

formerly curator of archeology. Clifford

Evans succeeds Dr. Wedel as curator of

archeology, having been an associate cura-

tor in that Division.

The following scientists have recently

joined the staff of the Smithsonian’s

Museum of Natural History:

Richard E. Norris, formerly professor

of botany at the University of Minnesota,

as associate curator, Division of Crypto-

grams.

Stanley H. Weitzman, formerly of

the Department of Anatomy, Stanford

University, as associate curator, Division

of Fishes.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

New faculty appointments to the De-

partment of Physics and Astronomy in-

clude William C. Erickson, as associate

professor of astronomy, and Charles A.

Misner, as associate professor of physics.

Dr. Erickson, a radioastronomer, was sen-

ior staff scientist at Convair Astronautics

in San Diego, Calif., where he built and

used a large antenna for radioastronomy.

Dr. Misner comes to the staff from Prince-

ton University, where he has been active

in studies on general relativity and quan-

tum field theory.

Several visiting professors have been

added to the staff for the 1963 spring

semester, as follows:

L. Woltjer, professor of astrophysics

at the University of Leiden, Holland, as

visiting professor of astronomy;

Frank B. McDonald of NASA’s God-

dard Space Flight Center, as part-time

visiting professor of physics;

A. A. Jaffe, a nuclear experimentalist,

as visiting associate professor of physics;

David Korff, as visiting assistant pro-

fessor of physics;

Dan W. Schlitt, a quantum field

theorist, as visiting assistant professor of

physics ;

Carl E. Fichtel of NASA, as visiting

lecturer in the program of the Center for

Atmospheric and Space Physics.

DEATH

Herbert E. Merwin, a petrologist with

the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical

Laboratory for 36 years, died on January

28, aged 84. He retired in 1945, but re-

mained a research associate with the

Laboratory until 1959. He was particularly

interested in volcanic and hot spring de-

posits, the relationship among volcanic

rocks, and the optical properties of crystals

and pigments. Dr. Merwin, a native of

Newton, Kans., received his bachelor’s and

doctor’s degrees from Harvard University.

March, 1963

79

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

M arch 11 — Institute of Radio Engi-

neers

Luncheon meeting, co-sponsored by

IRE-PGEM and D.C. Science Chapter,

Armed Forces Management Association.

James Holahan, associate editor of Space

Aeronautics, “A Primer on Space Flight

Physics.”

11:30 a.m., Knickerbocker Restaurant,

5510 Connecticut Ave., N.W.

March 11 — American Society of Civil

Engineers

Dinner meeting. Program to be an-

nounced.

6:30 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

March 11 — American Society for

Metals

Dinner meeting. Program to be an-

nounced.

6:00 p.m., AAUW Building, 2401

Virginia Ave., N.W.

March 11 — Society of Photographic

Scientists and Engineers

“Cronar Conversion Film.”

8:15 p.m., National Academy of

Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W.

March 12 — American Institute of

Chemists

Luncheon meeting. George J. Rotarin,

Division of Isotopes Development, AEC, on

industrial uses of atomic energy.

Presidential Arms, 1320 G St., N.W.

March 13 — Institute of Environ-

mental Sciences

Annual meeting. Election of officers; re-

view of the year’s activities; preparation

for national meeting (April 17-19).

8:00 p.m., National Housing Center,

1615 L St., N.W.

March 13 — Geological Society of

Washington

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

March 14 — American Society of Me-

chanical Engineers

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., PEPCO Auditorium, 10th &

E Sts., N.W.

March 18 — Society of American Mili-

tary Engineers

Luncheon meeting. Program to be an-

nounced.

Noon, YWCA, 17th & K Sts., N.W.

March 19 — Anthropological Society

of Washington

Edward T. Hall, Washington School of

Psychiatry, “Field Methodology in Proxe-

mics.”

8:15 p.m., Room 43, National Museum,

10th & Constitution Ave., N.W.

March 20 — American Meteorological

Society

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., National Academy of

Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W.

March 20 — Washington Society of

Engineers

Jack E. Walters, “Painting for Fun.”

8:00 p.m.. Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

March 20 — American Society for

Quality Control

Dinner meeting. Victor Shellburne,

quality control supervisor, Atlantic Re-

search Corporation, “Characteristics of

Production Weighing Accuracy-” Tour of

ARC facilities.

7:00 p.m., Atlantic Research Corpora-

tion, Shirley Highway at Edsall Rd.,

Alexandria, Va.

March 25 — American Society of Pho-

togrammetrv

29th Annual Meeting, March 25-28.

Shoreham Hotel. Also, the 23rd Annual

Meeting of the American Congress on

Surveying and Mapping will be held

March 26-29.

March 25 — II. C. Society of Profes-

sional Engineers

Program to be announced.

80

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

8:00 p.m., National Housing Center,

1625 L St., N.W.

March 26 — American Society of Civil

Engineers

Luncheon meeting. Program to be an-

nounced.

Noon, YWCA, 17th & K Sts., N.W.

March 26 — American Society for

Microbiology

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Sternberg Auditorium, Wal-

ter Reed Hospital.

March 27 — Geological Society of

Washington

Program to be announced.

8:00 p.m., Powell Auditorium, Cosmos

Club.

March 28 — American Society of Me-

chanical Engineers

Annual elections.

8:00 p.m., PEPCO Auditorium, 10th

& E Sts., N.W.

JOINT BOARD ON

SCIENCE EDUCATION

Frontiers of Science

Lectures Scheduled

The Joint Board announces that its an-

nual Frontiers of Science lectures will be

held during March, April, and May, in the

Biology Building auditorium at Howard

University. Howard E. Finley of Howard’s

Zoology Department, chairman of the

JBSE Frontiers Committee, has arranged

the outstanding program outlined below.

March 16 — “Tektites and the Moon”, by

John A. O’Keefe, Goddard Space Flight

Center.

April 13 — “What Color Do You Really

See?” by Z. V. Harvalik. Basic Research

Group, Engineering and Development

Laboratories, Ft. Belvoir, Va.

April 27 — “Medicinal Chemistry,” by

Samuel Massey, Grants Division, National

Science Foundation.

May 18 — “Life in the Tropics, Para-

sites Permitting,” by D. R. Lincicome,

Zoology Department, Howard University.

All sessions are scheduled to begin at

10:30 a.m. on the indicated dates; no

tickets are required. This is the only series

of lectures, and students from the entire

Metropolitan Area junior and senior high

schools are invited to come. This is in

contrast to other years, when lectures were

scheduled in several locations of the area.

A printed announcement of these lectures

has been prepared and will be distributed

for bulletin-board posting in the schools.

Teachers are requested to urge their stu-

dents to attend.

ES&A Day Science Teacher Awards

The Joint Board on February 20 pre-

sented Distinguished Teacher Awards to 12

science and mathematics teachers of the

Washington area, and cited 62 others for

outstanding accomplishment in teaching.

Presentations were made at the annual

Engineers, Scientists, and Architects Day

luncheon, held at the Presidential Arms.

Both groups received Certificates of

Citation as evidence of their teaching ac-

complishments. In addition, the award

winners will receive an air trip to New

York City, to visit the scientific and engi-

neering laboratories of the International

Telephone and Telegraph Company and the

Bell Telephone Company. This will afford

an opportunity to view the latest develop-

ments in many fields of science and tech-

nology.

Presentation of awards and citations to

outstanding teachers is a major feature of

ES&A Day, cosponsored by the D. C.

Council of Engineering and Architectural

Societies and the Washington Academy of

Sciences. It is a method of recognizing the

prime importance of good teaching in the

advancement of these professions. Teach-

ers receiving the honors are nominated by

their principals, as well as by leading engi

neers and scientists of the community. A

panel of distinguished members of these

professions makes the selection of the

award winners.

The judges noted that nominations were

March, 1963

81

well distributed geographically among ele-

mentary. junior high, and senior high

schools of the Washington area. Partici-

pation by parochial and private schools

was greater than in previous years. The

nominations indicated high interest on the

part of school principals, and attested to

the depth and activity of the teachers them-

selves. A growing improvement was noted

particularly in the basic educational quali-

fications. pursuit of additional courses, and

ingenuity and resourcefulness of elemen-

tary school teachers in the inspiration of

their students and getting scientific princi-

ples across.

Distinguished Teacher Award Winners

Sister Catharine Virginia, Academy of Notre

Dame. W ashington

Col. Kenney T. Brunsvold (USA Retd.), St.

Stephen’s, Alexandria

Arthur B. Bauley, Richard Montgomery High,

Rockville

Pamela Hanrahan, Oxon Hill Senior High, Oxon

Hill

Bertha H. Hall. Eliot Junior High, Washington

Mabel Sturm, North Bethesda Junior High,

Bethesda

Sterling M. Derricotte, Hine Junior High, Wash-

ington

Donald Buttermore, Gunston Junior High, Arling-

ton

Margaret K. Noble, Congress Heights Elemen-

mentary, Washington

Ann P. Faulconer, McKinley Elementary, Arling-

ton

Nancy K. Peirce, Beltsville Elementary, Beltsville

Mrs. Ritchie B. Mathews, Wyngate Elementary,

Bethesda

Recipients of Citations

Elementary School Teachers

Fredna D. Belue, Crestwood (Fairfax) ; David

Mason, Tall Oaks (Prince Georges) ; Elizabeth M.

Conroy, Stephen Knolls (Montgomery) ; Mr. N.

J. Poulos, Columbia Park (Prince Georges) ; Avis

E. Dolecek, Forest Heights (Prince Georges) ;

Elizabeth Reynolds, Somerset (Montgomery) ;

Mrs. Richard B. Palmer, Connecticut Park (Mont-

gomery) ; Elizabeth M. Pearson, Herndon (Fair-

fax) ; Mary K. Ewing, Belvedere (Fairfax) ;

Frances C. Triplett, Annandale (Fairfax) ;

Patricia S. Scharr, Camp Springs (Prince

Georges) ; Alice E. Grizzard, Keene Mill (Fair-

fax) ; Pauline D. Powell, Randolph (D.C.) ;

Catherine Readyhough, Woodley Hills (Fairfax) ;

Rebecca Evans, Garfield (Fairfax) ; Louise Mul-

lendore, Parkwood (Montgomery).

Nettie J. Hooks, Jennie Dean (Manassas) ;

Eloise Hauver, Highland View (Montgomery) ;

Mary G. Butler, James Monroe (D.C.) ; Alma

Evensta, Georgetown Day School; Ruth H.

Brewer, Fairlington (Arlington) ; David A.

Mitchell, Suitland (Prince Georges) ; Mary Lou

Munsey, Pine S'pring (Fairfax).

Junior High School Teachers

Barbara Jureidini, Williamsburg (Arlington) ;

Col. K. B. Potter, Flint Hill Private School;

Leola W. Headley, Alice Deal (D.C.) ; Garland

C. Dardee, Washington Irving (Fairfax) ; Eliza-

beth S. Smith, Terrell (D.C.) ; Robert L. Thomp-

son, Henry Thoreau (Fairfax) ; Charles Coblentz,

Broome (Montgomery) ; Mrs. Laurine C. Decker,

Takoma Park (Montgomery).

Roland Foskey, Glenridge (Prince Georges) ;

James C. Bryant, H. W. Longfellow (Fairfax) ;

Mrs. Jo. Torpy, Jefferson (Alexandria) ; Evelyn

H. Reid, Montgomery Hills (Montgomery) ; Sylvia

H. Peppers, Taft (D.C.) ; Mrs. Marion B. De-

Berry, Banneker (D.C.).

Senior High School Teachers

Thomas C. Beavers, Gar-Field (Prince Wil-

liam) ; Susan E. Aud, Montgomery Blair (Mont-

gomery) ; Mr. Amil Jinar, Bladensburg (Prince

Georges) ; Eugene W. Skinner, Luther Jackson

(Fairfax) ; Edith M. Elliott, McLean (Fairfax) ;

Theodore D. Lewis, Jr., Northwestern (Prince

Georges) ; Bro. E. Stephen, FSC, Bishop O’Con-

nell; Ruth Dial, Wakefield (Arlington) ; George

B. Griswold, J.E.B. Stuart (Fairfax) ; Emily

Lampert, Mt. Vernon Seminary.

Ruth M. Nelson, Calvin Coolidge (D.C.) ; Sister

Marceline, S'.P., Immaculata; Dorothy M. Allen,

M. M. Washington Vocational (D.C.) ; Jane M.

Randle, Lackey, (Charles County) ; John M.

Woolford, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Montgomery) ;

Edward F. Scott, DuVal (Prince Georges) ; Melba

B. Robinson, McKinley (D.C.); Bro. Eugene

Peter, FSC, St. Johns; Earl Shaw, Damascus

(Montgomery) ; Helen lddings, George Washing-

ton (Alexandria) ; Louis R. Perkins, Dunbar

(D.C.) ; Beatrice V. Barnes, Anacostia (D.C.).

— John K. Taylor

SCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT

Several medical research seminars

for teenage scientists were recently

held at the National Institutes of

Health and the Naval Medical Center.

Presented by the Montgomery County

Tuberculosis and Heart Associations, in

cooperation with the National Heart In-

stitute and the Naval Medical Center, they

dealt with congenital heart disease, cause

and treatment of hypertension, hypercholes-

82

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

terolemia and artery disease, and the kid-

ney. Over 600 Montgomery County high

school science students attended the four

seminars; last year about 360 students

participated.

“Friendship 7”, the first United

States manned orhital spacecraft,

officially became a part of the Na-

tional Aeronautical and Space Collec-

tions of the Smithsonian Institution

at a presentation ceremony on Febru-

ary 20. The ceremony marked the first

anniversary of the historic flight of

Astronaut John H. Glenn; the presentation

was made by Hugh L. Dryden, deputy ad-

ministrator of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration. The space-

craft will be placed on permanent display

in the Air and Space Building of the Na-

tional Air Museum.

The Ford Foundation has granted

$200,000 to NAS-NRC to support

an examination of the nation’s utiliza-

tion of its scientific and engineering

manpower. Clark Kerr, president of the

University of California, is chairman of

a special committee that is conducting the

study. The 16-member committee includes

representatives of each of the three sectors

of national life directly concerned —

colleges and universities, industry, and the

Government. Staff director for the com-

mittee is Richard H. Bolt, associate di-

rector for planning, National Science

Foundation.

A new hall, “Life in the Sea,” was

formally opened on February 18 at

the Museum of Natural History. The

exhibits attempt to show how some of the

world’s marine animals — from the largest

to the smallest — look in life; how they are

adapted to resist the physical forces of

their environment, to elude their enemies,

and to reproduce, and how their existence

benefits or harasses man. A unique feature

is a life-size model of a blue whale, the

largest mammal that has ever lived. It is

92 feet long, and represents a living whale

that weighed about 135 tons.

BOARD OF MANAGERS

MEETING NOTES

February Meeting

The Board of Managers held its 553rd

meeting on February 12 at the National

Academy of Sciences, with President Van

Evera presiding.

The minutes of the 552nd meeting were

approved with a correction. (Minutes as

shown in February issue, page 49, have

been corrected.)

Appointments. Dr. Van Evera announced

that Father Francis J. Heyden would serve

as chairman of the Committee on Science

Talent. W. C. Brombacher has been ap-

pointed chairman of the Auditing Commit-

tee, with Carl L. Aslakson and Norman F.

Braaten as members.

He also anouneed that the Executive

Committee would meet regularly at noon

at George Washington University beginning

February 27, and thereafter every month

on the Wednesday following the general

meeting; and that the Committee would

assume responsibility for more of the op-

erating problems of the Academy, thus

freeing the Policy and Planning Commit-

tee for other assignments. The Executive

Committee will develop an agenda for the

Board meeting to follow; this will be

mailed to Board members with the meeting

notice and minutes of the previous Board

meeting.

Treasurer. Treasurer Henderson reported

the following balances for January 1963:

Washington Academy, $6,756.65: Joint

Board, $7,923.77; junior Academy, $4„-

097.30. Dr. Henderson also filed with the

secretary the treasurer’s annual report for

1962, which was to be summarized for the

general meeting on February 21. (See also

elsewhere in the present issue.)

Budget. The budget for 1963 was pre-

sented by the treasurer. (See elsewhere in

this issue.) A question was raised by Dr.

Saville concerning the budgeting of $8,000

for the Journal; this was explained by

Editor Detwiler as due primarily to the

extra cost of printing a directory issue.

March, 1963

83

Also. Messrs. Saville and Weil questioned

the policy of budgeting capital gains as op-

erating income. It was moved by Weil that

as a matter of policy, capital gains be con-

sidered by the treasurer as investment

rather than operating funds. An amend-

ment was offered by Saville, that the ac-

tion proposed in the motion be considered

as discretionary, subject to change by the

Board as circumstances dictate, to avoid

handicapping operations; but that it is

desirable to increase the Academy’s capital

against the future, when sizeable commit-

ments may need to be made for building

costs. The motion was passed as amended.

The Board thereupon approved the pro-

posed budget, as it will need to be modified

by the action taken above.

Meetings. Chairman Robbins announced

that the annual dinner and presentation of

awards would be held on February 21. The

March 21 meeting will be addressed by

Raymond J. Seeger of the National Science

Foundation, on the subject, “On the Soci-

ology of Science.” Members of the Com-

mittee on Meetings have not yet been ap-

pointed.

Membership. Chairman Hobbs presented

the names of three candidates for resident

fellow, for First Reading.

Dr. Hobbs anounced that one new mem-

ber. Donald H. Williams, had been elected

by unanimous vote of the Committee.

( Election of members is accomplished by a

favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the

Committee on Membership. Mr. Williams

is the first official member of the Academy

under the new membership rules.)

Dr. Hobbs asked and was answered af-

firmatively, “Can the Membership Commit-

tee offer membership to nominees who do

not qualify for fellow, if the sponsors of the

nominee do not wish to appeal directly to

the Board?” Also, Dr. Van Evera asked

Dr. Hobbs to consider and report at the

next Board meeting what, if anything, the

Academy should do to notify the former

members of the Academy that they have

become fellows under the change of mem-

bership rules.

Grants-in-Aid. On motion of Chairman

McPherson, the Board approved a grant of

not over $50 to Myron Givits of Anacostia

High School, to defray the cost of polishing

a crystal for a ruby laser; it was under-

stood that the grant would be made only

after receipt of supporting information

from Mr. Givits and Mr. Hopkins, assistant

science director of D.C. Schools.

Editor. Editor Detwiler reported that the

February issue of The Journal was about

to go to press, featuring articles on the

Academy’s award winners, on lasers, and

on Mr. Haseltine of the Washington Post.

New Business. The Board approved a

motion for affiliation with the Academy of

the Washington-Baltimore Section of the

Electro chemical Society.

The Board approved the recommenda-

tion of the Executive Committee, that Mr.

Detwiler be continued in office for another

year as editor and managing editor of

The Journal.

Dr. Van Evera asked for an expression

of opinion concerning the need for several

committees, as follows: (1) Ways and

Means Committee (no apparent need for

one now) ; (2) Publicity Committee (prob-

ably no need for one now, but the sug-

gestion was made that Dr. Henderson ex-

plore the possibility of obtaining occasional

newspaper publicity about Academy af-

fairs) ; (3) committee to consider what to

do for or with affiliates of the Academy

(consensus was that this might be desir-

able, and the suggestion was made that we

explore the desirability of making certain

meetings of the Academy, joint meetings

with appropriate groups of affiliated soci-

eties) ; (4) committee to explore whether

there are other societies that should be

invited to affiliate with the Academy (reac- J

tion favorable).

Dr. Campbell suggested the desirability

of having the Academy take a position and

communicate it to the Congress, on bills

now pending concerned with the care of

laboratory animals. Dr. Van Evera ex-

pected to appoint a committee to prepare a

statement for review by the Board.

84

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Delegates to the Washington Academy of Sciences, Representing

the Local Affiliated Societies*

Philosophical Society of Washington

Anthropological Society of Washington

Biological Society of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

Entomological Society of Washington

National Geographic Society

Geological Society of Washington

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Columbia Historical Society

Botanical Society of Washington

Society of American Foresters

Washington Society of Engineers

American Institute of Electrical Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Helminthological Society of Washington

American Society for Microbiology

Society of American Military Engineers

Institute of Radio Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

American Society for Metals

International Association for Dental Research

Institute of the Aerospace Sciences

American Meteorological Society

Insecticide Society of Washington

Acoustical Society of America

American Nuclear Society

Institute of Food Technologists

American Ceramic Society

R. D. Myers

Regina Flannery Herzi eld

John A. Paradiso

Leo Schubert

Frank L. Campbell

Alexander Wetmore

G. Arthur Cooper

Frederick 0. Coe

U. S. Grant, III

Wilbur D. McClellan

Harry A. Fo wells

Carl I. Aslakson

William A. Geyger

William G. Allen

Doys A. Shorb

Howard Reynolds

Delegate not appointed

Robert D. Huntoon

Thorndike Saville, Jr.

Falconer Smith

Hugh L. Logan

Gerhard M. Brauer

Francois N. Frenkiel

Jack Thompson

Robert A. Fulton

Malcolm C. Henderson

George L. Weil

Richard P. Farrow

Delegate not appointed

Delegates continue in office until new selections are made by the respective affiliated societies.

Volume 53 MARCH 1963 No. 3

CONTENTS

A Brief Look at the Dismal Swamp and Its Natural History,

Especially the Insects 57

The Personal Side of a Research Project 63

March Meeting of the Academy 67

The Brownstone Tower 68

Letter to the Editor 69

WAS Organization for 1963 70

Summary Annual Report of Secretary for 1962 71

Summary Annual Report of Treasurer for 1962 73

Budget for 1963 76

Summary of Journal Operations for 1962 77

Science in Washington

Scientists in the News 78

Calendar of Events 80

Joint Board on Science Education 81

Science and Development 82

Board of Managers Meeting Notes 83

Washington Academy of Sciences 2nd Class Postage

1530— P St., N.W. Paid at

Washington, D. C. Washington, 1). C.

Return Requested

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