Rich Richard

The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, named after America's "first scientist," celebrated the 100th anniversary of its birth. In attendance were 700 scientists representing 200 universities and other scientific institutions. Many of the older universities of the world sent birthday greetings by their representatives. They included:

La Sorbonne (Universite de Paris), founded 1257.

University of Oxford, founded cir. 1133.

University of St. Andrews, founded 1411.

Universite de Louvain, founded 1426.

University of Glasgow, founded 1453.

Albertus University (Konigsberg), founded 1544.

University of Cambridge, founded 1257.

Such youngsters as the University of Lithuania also sent congratulations. There were several hundred scientific speeches by men prominent in various fields of Science.

P: Dr. W. D. Coolidge, assistant director of the research laboratory of the General Electric Co., told of developing a portable X-ray machine, weighing only 30 lb., which may be used in finding pipe and electrical connections in floors, examining jewels, finding contraband in luggage.

P: F. W. Peek Jr., consulting engineer of the General Electric Co., told of experiments with lightning, in which he found that the average charge of a bolt of lightning is 100,000,000 volts (about a million times the charge of electricity used for domestic purposes). Its destructive effect comes from the explosive suddenness with which it is discharged. If it could be stored in a storage battery it would drive an electric automobile for about five miles or heat an electric iron for a day. By experimenting with artificial lightning of about 2,000,000 volts, it was found that lightning does not always strike the highest object, except when that object is 2.5% or more of the distance from the ground to the cloud. When the height of the object is 1.1% of the distance from the ground to the cloud, the chances of its being hit are about 50-50. Nevertheless, a man standing is 15 times more likely to be hit than is a man lying down. Around every high object there is a safety zone within a radius of about four times the height of the object-- for example: If a flagpole stands 25 feet high, lightning will either strike the pole or more than 100 feet away.

P: Major General Mason M. Patrick, Chief of the U. S. Army Air Service, declared that: "We have really gone so far as to now believe that transportation of an expeditionary force across the seas is an impossibility. If the Germans had known in the World War what we know now, few of our million men would have reached France."

He pleaded for the conservation of helium gas for use in dirigibles. He also foresaw a day when whole flocks of airplanes, guided by radio from a distant plane, would go forth to bombard enemy cities.

P: Prof. Dayton C. Miller, of the Case School of Applied Science, described the functioning of his phonedeik, an instrument which photographs sound waves.

P: Major General C. O. Williams, Chief of Army Ordnance, contradicted Major General Patrick, said that, while aeronautical attack has been rendered more deadly, defense has grown apace. He told of high speed tanks, with guns mounted in turrets; of a new trench mortar more accurate in fire; of a new .50-calibre machine-gun to displace the old .30-calibre weapon; of a new 75-millimetre field piece with a range of 15,000 instead of 9,000 yards; of new anti-aircraft guns with an accurate vertical range of 8,400 yards; of an increase in range of the 4.7-inch gun from 14,000 to 20,000 yards; of a new, and improved aircraft machine-gun having been perfected by John Browning; of a new 8-inch howitzer with a range of 18,000 instead of 11,000 yards; of a new smokeless and flashless powder, making artillery spotting virtually impossible; of a new siege gun, mounted on a railway carriage, hurling a 1,600-pound projectile, and firing a shot every minute; of modern aerial bombs, six times as explosive as those used in the War.

P: Prof. A. A. Michelson, of the University of Chicago, told of measuring the speed of light by revolving mirrors placed on Mount Wilson and on Mount San Antonio, 22 miles away, and expressed the belief that such light measurements might be used to supplant triangulation in some forms of surveying.

P: Arthur D. Little spoke on the "Fifth Estate," not the advertising business, which sometimes takes that title to itself, but "that small company upon whose creative effort the world depends for the advancement of science."

P: Toward the end of the session, a tablet was unveiled at the Bartol Research Foundation to commemorate the beginning of research work made possible by the bequest of the late Henry E. Bartol of $1,200,060.