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Atoms at Work
BY ORLANDO ALOYSIUS BATTISTA
URING the p a t decade or two scientists have
literally exploded the atom and in so doing have
brought tolight
many phenemenal universes
never dreamed of before. By a rather simple calculation,
if you know how to make ~ t ,t can be shown that bhe
air whi& m p i e s the fmger space in a thimble contains
at least thirty b1Flmn molecules. If all the docks in the
world were kept wound up, it would take them a hundred centuries or more to tidc out the number of atoms
in a single dmmp of rain water. If you were able to count
the a t o m on the surface of 0 speck of dust which could
be seen ody under a miuoucope, you would find they
nmlbered ni1,lions. So when we balk a b u t atoms we are
talking about infinitesimally small particles of matter,
particles so small that man wi!l never be able to see them
no matter how powerful he may build his microscopes.
Fifty years ago these atoms were looked upon by the
worlds foremost scientists as hard, discrete, indivisible
particles of matter which formed the building bricks of
evgrphing in the universe. But the concapt of the &mcture of matter that had held sway for some twentyfive centuries crumbled into myth when such men as
Thomson, Rutherford, Lawrence, and a host of others
published the results of their researches. Today we know
with the certainty that comes from reliable experimental
evidence that each little atom is a veritable universe in
itself, having a sun-llke nucleus at its center and many
planetary electrons-unitsof
pure electricity-whirling
about this core at speeds exceeding those of m y planets
in theirorbits.
The discovery of the atom universes with their incredibIe rides was speeded up by the invention of an American scientist, Ernest Odando Lawrence. A liltftle more
&
a
n ten years ago Professor Lawreace succeeded in producing a powerful atomsmashing machine, called a
C$otron, which already has opened up dozens of new
avenues of scientific research. More than forty of these
machines are now in existence, most of them in the
factLhtth&workhasdykgur.h
In the Wind
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has taken official cognizance of the servant problem. The London Daily MdiL
reports &at Mr. Bevins office is going into the matter and
will probably make recommendations BS to minimum wages
and maximum hours.
PHONOGRAPH-RECORD COLLECTORS tell us they are
no longer allowed to do any internahonal swapping. It seems
that somerecordshave
unintelligible backgroundnoises
which the authoritla fear might possibly be code messages.
GEORGIAS SUPREME COURT bas declined for the second tima to review an examination on the basis of which
the State Board of Bar Examlners has refused to recommend
a license for George Hlmer Ross, a Negro. The law requlres
the board to recommend llcenses for all who pass its examinations. Mr. Ross, a graduate of the University of Chicago
Law School, insists that he made more than a passing grade.
In refusing to look at the evidence, the c o u r t held that bhe
board is h e sole judge of grades and that there is no appeal
from its decisions.