An Underground Laboratory for Studying Radium Rays

NEW advances are being made daily in a study of radium rays, cosmic rays, and X-rays. Cancer and other diseases are being treated and the effect of these powerful rays upon various forms of life are being noted. Science is probing deep into the mysteries of ray treatment.

Prof. E. B. Babcock, of the University of California, has constructed for himself a strange laboratory underground in a speculative study of the effects of radium rays.
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I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the movie version of this.

Serious Monkey Business

To study the effects of radiation at various levels of fatigue, monkeys are exercised inside a rotating, plastic sphere and studied by researchers at the University of Tennessee medical school.

Four feet in diameter, the sphere is turned constantly at three miles per hour or faster. The monkeys are put on this treadmill after slight exposure to radiation and studied by the scientists. Read the rest of this entry »

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Radium ~ Science’s Most Mysterious Servant

Radium, the most mysterious element of science, is now accomplishing amazing feats in medicine and engineering. New uses for this marvelous substance are described here.

by ALFRED ALBELLI

FAR off in the isolated hamlet of Cabri, situated in a remote part of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, a woman suffering from cancer listened to her physician solemnly pronounce her death-knell.

“Madame,” he said, in the somber note of a doctor who must admit that he cannot cope with the unfathomable ravages of Nature, “I am helpless. Our battle is done. There’s only one possible means of saving your life. It is radium.”
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HOW TO BUILD A GEIGER-MUELLER URANIUM SURVEY METER

By F. L. Brittin, S.M.,I.R.E.

ANYONE can build and operate this simplified Geiger-Mueller survey meter, which is an instrument for detecting the presence of radiations emanating from radioactive substances such as valuable uranium and radium. Specifically, the Geiger-Mueller tube, which is the most important component of the instrument, detects X-rays, cosmic rays and gamma rays. Beta rays can also be detected by Geiger tubes with very thin cathode walls.
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New Toys for Junior

Atomic Lab Set. shown at the American Toy Fair in New York, has cloud chamber that makes visible the paths taken by speeding alpha particles, a Geiger counter, and a screen that shows the break-up of radio-active material. A. C. Gilbert Co., of New Haven, Conn. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Most Important 30 Minutes of Your Life

By Lester David

AT 12:30 p. m. an atomic bomb is going . to explode in your city! Radar has spotted an enemy airplane and disclosed its course, speed and the arc on which it is traveling.

It’s noon now and you have 30 minutes— 1800 crucial seconds—to prepare for the bomb. What will you do?

You and your family can survive if you take the proper precautions at the proper time. Atomic scientists, civilian defense authorities, army officials and Red Cross disaster chiefs agree on this. Read the rest of this entry »

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The ATOMIC SHIP Takes Shape

by Richard K. Winslow

Condensed from Newsweek One fine morning in the spring of 1960 a gleaming white ship will glide from some American harbor out to sea. The ship’s rakish lines will be unmarred by any smokestacks. Her bridge will probably resemble the pilot’s bubble on some huge aircraft. Her passengers—nuclear scientists and marine engineers —will anxiously watch each dial aboard the ship to see if all is well.

America’s first atomic merchant ship will thus embark upon her first sea trials.
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Safety Computer Forecasts Atomic Fall-out Pattern

How “safe” is it to test an atom bomb ? Will wind-blown radioactive dust or charged rain clouds endanger life or crops in inhabited regions?

The National Bureau of Standards recently developed a “portable” analog computer to assist in predicting radioactive fall-out from a nuclear explosion. The fall-out pattern appears instantly on oscilloscope (left of photo) after weather data and the size and type of bomb are “told to” the computer by setting dials. As computers go, “portable” means that it will fit into a truck.

Wind-carried fall-out even from “small” atomic tests has traveled as far as Paris and Tokyo when caught in the “jet stream” of the upper atmosphere.

Atomic Golf Ball

IT may not be world-shattering news, but golfers will welcome one of the newest atomic developments once it emerges from the experimental stage. It’s a golf ball that can’t get lost. Minute quantities of radioactive materials are embedded under the cover of the ball so that if you carry a portable Geiger counter, you can locate it even in dense woods. When you’re getting close to the correct location, you’ll know by the signals on your headphones.

Below, Dr. William L. Davidson the inventor lets Lawson Little, famous golf pro, left, hear the tell-tale clicks. At the right, he gives the fairer sex a chance to marvel at modern science.

Tail of “Hot” Suit Serves as Entrance

A TECHNICIAN puts Oil this plastic protective suit by crawling into it through its fat “tail, ” which is connected to a port in the door. Used in radioactive areas at the Hanford plutonium factory, it stays inflated because air pressure inside the “hot” room is lower than pressure outside. This prevents any radioactive dust from leaking outside the room.

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IF Atomic Fuel Were Shared…

The world would be healthier, wealthier and wiser, say AEC scientists, discussing President’s daring proposal to United Nations.

editor’s note: President Eisenhower’s dramatic proposal to the United A at ions that a world pool of fissionable materials he created for peaceful purposes had no greater appeal to any hearts and minds than those of nuclear scientists. Popular Science Monthly invited some of them, on the staff of the Atomic Energy-Commission’s labs at Brookhaven, N. Y., to tell yon what they think of the plan’s potentialities. Their discussion, recorded on magnetic tape, is transcribed here. The various speakers are: William A. Higinbotham, Harry Palevsky, Drs. Clarke Williams, Marvin Fox and Charles P. Baker, physicists; Mrs. Beth Baker, a chemist; and Wesley S. Griswold, of PSM’s editorial staff.
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Atomic Planes

Are Closer Than You Think High-payload atom-powered jet flying-boats within the next five to ten years: that’s MPs prediction, based on a study of design trends and necessities.

By Frank Tinsley

THE buckaroos of science are breaking the atom to harness at a fantastic rate. In just 15 short years, fission has grown from a super-secret equation whispered in a President’s ear to a solidly established 14-billion dollar industry. The hectic stage of A-and H-bomb monopoly is fast giving way to a happier and less explosive phase of atomic development. Late last year Congress enacted the Atomic Energy Act of 1954; directing that the atom’s neglected humanitarian potential be put to work “to promote world peace, promote the general welfare and increase the standard of living.” Along with this, President Eisenhower launched his World Atoms-For-Peace Program to spur the exchange of knowledge and the rapid development of international atomic power projects of all kinds.
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