Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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and for the people, not the people for the Constitution. Just as our American policy of settling important matters through friendly debate and a final vote was satisfactory in bringing to a favor- able close the arguments on the rati- fication of the Constitution, so we confidently hope that the rising ques- tions of today may be settled in the same way. The History of the Nobel Award by Victoria Machaj TT ' OR the past thirty-seven years the people of every nation have either heard of or read about the Nobel Prizes, but only a very small per- centage are well acquainted with their history. Most people have little more than a rather vague conception of the magnitude of these awards. Be- cause of the importance of these prizes and the emphasis placed on re- ceiving them by the great men of our day, I shall endeavor to show the origin, extent, and significance of these awards. Alfred Nobel, the donor of these awards, was born in Stockholm, Swe- den, on October 21, 1833, of a family of distinguished scientists. His father operated factories for the manufac- ture of explosives in Russia. It was the constant contact with his brother and father and the innumerable visits to his father’s factories that gave Alfred such an extensive interest in science. Even as a youth, he showed a great aptitude for science, physics, and mechanical engineering. During this period, the uncontroll- able nitroglycerine, one of the prod- ucts of his father’s factory, was caus- ing many dangerous explosions. It was in one of these explosions that Alfred Nobel lost his brother. This caused him to exert all the initi- ative that he possessed in experiment- ing and attempting to produce an explosive less dangerous, but still as powerful as nitroglycerine. After long study and constant experimenta- tion, Alfred Nobel invented a com- pound in 1867 which he called dyna- mite, made by mixing the nitro- glycerine oil with porous absorbing material, thus converting it into a paste, the resulting dynamite being much more insensitive to shock or blow. At that time Mr. Nobel found it very difficult to introduce his in- vention to the world; but gradually it was introduced into the different countries and marks such an epoch in the history of civilization that by the time the inventor was forty years old, he was making a fortune, for dynamite was being manufactured in almost every country in the world. As Alfred Nobel was approaching the last years of his life, the question of the disposal of his fortune occu- pied his attentions. He had no chil- dren and felt it an unwise plan to leave his fortune to relatives who had not deserved it. He believed that ex- 22

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was pointed out that slav e trade could no longer exist after 1808, there was no more objection to al- lowing it to exist for the next twenty years as provided. Finally after all this momentous and significant discussion, the Con- stitution was presented to our Massachusetts Convention for rati- fication on February 6, 1788. The vote was carried by the very small majority of 19, there being 187 votes for it and 168 against it. You may wonder why the Constitution was accepted without a Bill of Rights; it was agreed among the delegates that they could prepare amendments to submit to Congress immediately after the ratification of the Constitution by nine states. Each of the four Ipswich delegates cast their votes in favor of the Constitu- tion. Let us just stop to think for a moment how important these four votes were to the ratification of the Constitution in Massachusetts, there being such a small majority. It is of great significance that John Han- cock and Samuel Adams were influ- enced enough by the debate to vote in favor of the new government. In turn, their votes influenced many other delegates to vote in favor of the Constitution — delegates not only from our state but from neigh- boring states also, when the Consti- tution was presented to them for ratification. Massachusetts was now the sixth state to ratify our Consti- tution, and it is a well-known fact that had our state voted against it, so great was the influence of Massa- chusetts at that time that we should in all probability be living now un- der a different form of government. Thus, as we have seen, our Con- stitution because of its elastic clause has stood the tests of West- ward Expansion, the Civil War, the Reconstruction period, “big busi- ness” development, currency prob- lems, tariff, the World War, humani- tarian movements, and the New Deal. It is the belief of the majority that our Constitution is flexible enough to undergo any strain in the future, but the sentiment that our Constitution will not stand any more amending and that there is strong need for re- form is growing daily. In closing I would urge that before we listen to the would-be reformers, sincere and otherwise, we remember the words of Mr. Charles H. Cole- man in his article “The Constitution Up To Date”: “The virtue of oper- ating under a written charter is demonstrated when we realize that our government is one of the oldest in the world, despite our comparative youth as a nation. Nearly every im- portant country in the world has un- dergone a change in its form of gov- ernment since 1789, usually by a revolutionary process. This country survived its only revolutionary at- tack (the Civil War), and the method of peaceful development involving constitutional changes when needed is firmly established as the American method.” We must also bear in mind that the Constitution was made by 21

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treme wealth in many cases leads to idleness and prevents the develop- ment of the initiative which we all possess — the inherent desire to build an independent position for ourselves. It was his intention to help those who serve society and contribute to the welfare of mankind, receiving little compensation other than the personal satisfaction derived from the service itself. In order to accomplish his purpose, he made provisions in his will for the establishment of the Nobel Prize Fund. Each year the interest of the fortune is divided equally among re- cipients for distinguished work in five fields : namely, physics, chem- istry, medicine, literature, and in the promotion of peace. He also provided for judges in these fields as follows: the awards in physics and chemistry are made by the Royal Swedish Acad- emy of Science; the award in medi- cine is made by the Caroline Insti- tute; the Swedish Academy judges the merits of literary work submit- ted; and the peace prize is made by a committee of five elected by the Norwegian Storthing. One notice- able aspect is the universal scope which the awards embrace. No dis- tinction is made because of race, creed, or nationality; therefore, all have an equal opportunity. Since physics, chemistry, and medi- cine are all definitely related, it will be more convenient to discuss these three different fields together. It is interesting to note that the successive awards in these three fields mark great strides in the progress of science during the last century. In the first place, especially significant, originally to physical and later to medical science, was the discovery of the Rontgen or X-ray by William Rontgen, the first to be awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. It is hardly necessary to point out the value of this discovery to medical science in diagnosis and treatment of disease. Equally important was the discovery of radium and polonium by that re- markable woman, Madame Curie, who received the Nobel Award twice, once in physics and once in chemistry. No other scientist has ever been so honored. We like to pause here to think, in this connection, of her stead- fast refusal to commercialize her dis- covery and of her earnestness in wishing it to be used for the benefit of mankind. Everybody knows that radium has proved invaluable in the treatment of cancer, even curing the disease in its early stages. Truly, Madame Curie deserved to be so sig- nally honored by the Nobel Award. Among American scientists to be honored by the Nobel Award in chemistry are Thomas Richards and Irving Langmuir, who have increased our knowledge of atoms, electrons, and neutrons. Among the recipients of the Nobel Prize in medicine we have one of the greatest doctors that ever lived, Dr. Emil Bekring, who is the discoverer of diphtheria antitoxin and who sub- sequently made practical the use of the serum of animals immune to 23