Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

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The first demands of the airplane came at the outset of World War I, when it became evident that it would prove potent as an offensive weapon Engineers and physicists have worked long and hard, developing newer and better aircraft by improving former designs Through the years, aviation has advanced into jet aircraft, complying with the ever increasing public demands for speed and effi ciency in our modern times Recent developments include such planes as the Navy s Pogo, capable of taking off and landing vertically Swiveling wings and propellers are playing an ever important role in the search which scientists hope will eventually eliminate the need for cumbersome mile long runways Perhaps the ideal or ultimate of this type of jet aircraft will find itself in the flying wing or Delta type planes, which will one day be able to land as the helicopter does, without sacrificing speed or efhciency Aviation however, is but one of many phases of recent scientific develop ments Advances in radar, communication, radio, television and, of course, atomic energy are among those fields which affect the public daily Perhaps the field of atomic energy receives the least apparent public approval or apprecla vances, came about in direct response to the needs and requirements of an ever growing world a world whose resources are gradually shrinking, a world dependent upon unpredictable power sources, in all, a world in dire need of newer and more plentiful sources of power with which to maintain and further the growth of in dustry and commerce, insuring nations of security and prosperity Thus we see that men like Einstein and Vannevar Bush were far from being mad scientists, but rather they played the more prominent roles in the unleashing of the atom and its power We must accept, therefore, the fact that the atomic bomb was simply the unfortunate, but perhaps unavoidable, result of progress With the proper understanding, mankind may soon b rid of the threat of the atom, and turn all its vast potential energy to peaceful purposes The scient1st's dependency, even today, upon his environment for ideas and inspirations, and the advancement of civilization, in turn dependent upon science for its own progress, can be traced with far more vividness than is given here Considering the past, we may speculate upon the future and draw the con clusion that we need neither fear nor despise the aims and goals of science today We must realize that science will continue to serve mankind only as long as we, living as we do in a free democracy, continue to pursue the high ideals for which our forefathers fought and died in order to preserve the God given rights and freedoms of mankind , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,, . . ,, . . . , - ' 7 tive understanding. Few people realize that this, too, like all other scientific ad-

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Scmmcg AND HUMANWY Wmxv lXl1C7GQ! T Ausfm LTI-IOUGH MEN from the earllest tlmes have attempted to develop what mlght now be termed sc1ence, It was not untll the Sc1ent1f1c Revolution of the SIX teenth century that sclence, as we understand lt today, began to evolve Among the foremost of the early pxoneers we flnd men llke Newton, Copernlcus, and Kepler, each concentratlng 1n the fleld of hls own part1cular Interest These, llke sclen tlsts of all generat1ons, are found to have strlven first for pract1cal and 1mmed1ate goals Newton, for example, turned to astronomy because lt was cons1stent w1th the need for solving many navrgatxonal problems of hls era, slmllarly, we find that Faraday strove to uncover th relat1onsh1p between electr1c1ty and magnet 1sm, slnce lt was th1s questlon upon whlch sclentxfic work of hls day was centered Thus we note how scxence and the sc1ent1st have long been devoted to the fur therance and advancement of culture, llkewxse, how the cultural needs of the people 1n turn, dxrect the progress of sclence Th1s 1nter relat1onsh1p between the cultural needs of the people and sc1ence has never been more pronounced than IH our own tunes Today we are able to look back upon the past half century and note the llllmltable progress wrought by man 1n fosterlng and developlng thls relatlonshlp The fulfillment of one of man s most anclent deslres occurred w1th the com 1ng of the alrplane Although beglnmng modestly w1th the Wrlght Brothers' famous H1ght at Kitty Hawk, av1at1on has grown to awesome d1mens1ons, expand mg 111 accordance w1th the needs of the world I fl v J ,254 O . . . . - , . , . . .

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AUTOMATION BUSINESS fo Anne Defiusf ITI-I TI-IE modern concept of automation, undoubtedly an industrial revo- lution is present in the business world today, promising more leisure, relief from menial tasks, and an assured prosperity through higher productivity. This era has resulted after the introduction of modern automatic machin- ery that does a man's work, greatly increases production, and facilitates office detail and computing. Companies, once swamped by ofiice work, have installed new devices such as the I.B.lVl. electric typewriter, magic electronic machines. and urobotv computers of many different types and sizes. One of the first big computers, the General Electric UNIVAC, has proved its importance in figur- ing the payroll and in printing checks, another type of equal importance is used in the Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago doing the work of two hun- dred clerks and saving Z750,000 a year. Ar a conference in Los Angeles, a senior member of a large accounting firm remarked, Computers are the outstanding development of technology and are positively vital to management. Their import- ance can be compared to that of the bulldozer in the construction industry. A question most commonly asked today is whether, with the introduction of the automatic machines, the average worker will suffer because of lack of po- sitions. A vice-president of Ford Motor Company, Del S. Harder, claims that the outcome will furnish more jobs, create more products at less cost, and in- crease the ability of the people to consume. He believes that the automatic ma- chine is the key to less human effort in the future and will improve the present