Here is an amazing, huge National Geographic article/pictorial about the state of nuclear science and technology in 1958. Be sure to check out this crazy picture of mice being taped down on a model train that’s about to be driven through a particle accelerator.

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YOU AND THE OBEDIENT Atom

Abundant energy released from the hearts of atoms promises a vastly different and better tomorrow for all mankind

By ALLAN C. FISHER, JR.,
Senior Editorial Staff, National Geographic Magazine

THOUGH man may reach for the moon and the planets, he has found the richest of all new worlds behind the familiar face of his everyday environment. Here, deep in the mysterious cosmos of inner space, lies that world within a world, the powerful, obedient atom.

So small are nature’s basic building blocks that you could put 36 billion billion atoms on the head of a pin. Yet these unimaginably tiny particles work like genii at man’s bidding. Their peaceful energy is gradually shaping our world into a far better place.
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“Stiltmobile” Aids Mailmen
DESIGNED for use by rural mail carriers who must travel over roads which are frequently covered with heavy mud and snow, a new “Stiltmobile” is equipped with greatly enlarged wheels, elevated fenders and a specially designed body.

The odd looking machine is said to travel 20 to 30 miles on a gallon of gasoline. For ordinary transportation purposes, the large wheels and elevated fenders can be removed and replaced with conventional types.

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New Efforts May Harness SUN LIGHT

By Robert E. Martin

SUNSHINE, our greatest source of potential power, is now largely wasted. It is highly probable, however, that a few years hence science will find a way to harness the mighty energy of the sun’s radiation. Solar engines and solar heating apparatus will then make it economically practicable for us to use at least a small portion of our now-wasted sunshine to run our factories, light our streets, cook our food, and warm our houses. In the United States we use, each year, something like a half billion tons of coal, a half billion barrels of oil, and fifty billion horsepower hours of water power for heat, light, and power.
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Home Science Stunts with Soap

by Prof. Victor Lewitus

Make a strong soap solution by mixing shaving soap and water. After taking a puff on a cigarette, blow the smoke through a bubble pipe to make a soap bubble. The inside of the bubble then will contain the white smoke, and when it breaks, it does so with a puff, furnishing a very striking experiment. A clay or corncob pipe will be more suitable than the briar variety, inasmuch as the soap mixture probably will make the pipe unsuited for further smoking.
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Homemade Chair Has Seventeen Aids to Comfort

COMFORT-LOVING Bill Porter, East St. Louis, 111., handy man, takes no chances on having to get up for anything once he’s settled in his easy chair. For the chair, which Porter designed and built, is equipped with seventeen convenient accessories, including a radio, bookcase, electric fan, shoe-shining and pipe-smoking equipment, and compartments for food and beverages. A pull on a “gearshift” lever lowers the back, converting the chair into a bed.

It doesn’t look like they’re talking about tobacco.

You may differ with the traffic officer about the speed you were going . . . but you’re both likely to agree that MODEL is the best tobacco you ever bought for 10 cents. In pouch packages for men who like to dip in to fill their pipes, or in tins for men who like to carry tobacco that way. MODEL has everything—for 10 cents!

MODEL SMOKING TOBACCO
IN POUCH OR TIN