Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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Professor Aik g ac ine, capable of operating at speeds several times faster than the pioneer IBM machine. The latter consists of two buildings joined by a corridor. One houses the huge frequency-modulated cyclo- tron with its massive magnet, the extensive shielding and the auxiliary equipment. The other is a two-story research and control building. The machining of the 750 tons of iron forgings for the cyclotron magnet frame was done at the Watertown Arsenal, and the transportation from the Arsenal to the new building, north of the Univers'ty Museum, was fortunately completed just prior to the heavy snowfalls of late December, 1947. en's new digital calculatin m h' Both of these projects were made possible in large degree by funds supplied by the Office of Naval Research. The cost of the cyclotron installation, exclusive of building costs, is for example of the order of 35750,000. The research carried on in the two laboratories is, however, ofa fundamental nature. Most of it is unclassified -in the parlance of ONR -and the results are therefore available for publication. Professor Bainbridge, in charge of the cyclotron, is assisted by several graduate students and thus the Navy is realizing One of its aims in supporting University research, namely the ffil . t the moment, Professor Bainbridge and his associates a re concerned primarily with positron studies, the thermal-diffusion separation of isotopes, mass spectrometer and spectrograph studies, and the investi gation of fission products and radioactive ' ining of younger scientists A ISOIOPCS . The Scientists are Honored As one might expect, even from this very sketchy report on the natural sciences at Harvard, numerous honors have come in these years to many of the outstanding members of the staff. Professor Bridgman received the Nobel Prize in 1946 for his work on the physics of high pressures. Professor Kistiakowsky was awarded the Nichols Medal of the American Chemical Society. Professor Hunt received the Presidential Medal for Merit in recognition of the research contributions of the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory. Professor Francis Birch was awarded the Legion of Merit for services in connec- tion with development of the atomic bomb. Many others were recognized beyond the Harvard community by the conferring of honorary degrees and election to honorary positions in scientific bodies in foreign countries as well as in the United States. Nobel Prize winnin h ' ' g p ys1c1st Percy Bridgman is th autho ' ' e world's rity on the effect of high pressures upon atomic and mole- cular structures.

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Harold Kemp taught a popular course in human geography until his retirement in 1947. by one or two years of specialized work in ESAP and then go directly, and very profitably, into industrial positions after receiving the master's degree. 750 Tons of Iron Forgings The problem of adequate housing for the physical sciences has obviously been complicated by the new develop- ments in applied mathematics, atomic nuclei, communications GEORGE WALD JOSEPH L. WALSH l'rofesHor of Biology Professor of lxlll.l.ll0lllll,ill'H HASSLER WHITNEY DAVID V. WIDDER Profeessor of Mathematics Professor of Mnthemnties JOHN H. WELSH Associate Professor of Zoology C. M. WILLIAMS Associiite Professor of Zoology J. Bernard Cohen is Instructor in the History of Science and teaches the General Education science course. engineering, and so on. Not until the plans now being made for the new Science Center on Oxford Street are materialized, will the many potentialities for improvement in the natural sciences at Harvard be realized. In the meantime, something should be said about the new Computation Laboratory, com- pleted in 1946, and the well-nigh completed Nuclear Labora- tory. The former is in use 20 hours per day and now contains RALPH H. WETMORE F. L. WI-IIPPLE Professor of llotxuly Assomzinle Professor of Astronomy EDGAR B. WILSON, JR. JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR. Professor of Chemistry Associate Professor of Zoology U61

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...4-nl i l i K i i ii I. A. Richards invented Basic English, was the founder of the school of New Criticism. ,4 rfs, letters Hlhe Dark Visions of those who reed Antici- patory Funeral Services over the Humanities Have Been Dispelledf' In 1942, a Harvard professor, famous for his scholarly achievements in a branch of the humanities, found himself in an army uniform and stationed near one of the foreign theatres of war. The abrupt change from classroom and library to a military office, the reports of combat, and the daily contact with the material implementation of war, were so upsetting that he wrote solemnly to a colleague that the day of such scholarship as his was over and that after the war students and teachers of the humanities would be barely tolerated in universities, if indeed they could hope even for that. Ab- sorbed by his new environment he looked back on Harvard as a remote backwater, and on his previous career as one which had outlived its usefulness. He was not alone in his pessimism. Others at home and abroad doubted whether the liberal arts at Harvard could survive the world struggle. The University was formally committed to a whole-hearted effort to win the war, and all its resources were turned to that end. Naturally it looked as if routine military training or the study of scientific techniques were in the ascendant. Most of the official pronouncements of the Harvard authorities either said nothing about the study of the humanities during the war, or stressed the importance of other work so heavily as to give the impression that the University was neglecting everything but its drill grounds, barracks, laboratories, and workshops. It was easy for dis- ciples of the humanities to lose heart. The leaders of some other colleges were no less firm in dedicating their institutions to war service but spoke out plainly for the continued study of the liberal arts as a necessary part of that service. When official Harvard was for the most part silent on this point, there were plenty of gloomy prophets who made invidious comparisons and asserted that the University had renounced its tradition by adopting a sterile and limited concept of its duty in the crisis and for the future. War, Chaos, Perhaps Death Those who were actually at Harvard during the war years had plenty of evidence that such dark forebodings were false. Although enrollments in courses in the humanities fell off as the pressure of war programs forced students into other fields, and although most liberal arts departments were under- staffed because many of their teachers were in war service, no i381