Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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cation through the use of this mon- ey. Many schools also sponsor a .Tun- ior Red Cross wherein the students give money or gifts to be made into gift kits, which are sent to foreign chil- dren. Such kits contain useful articles carefully selected by a committee. Unesco is non-political. It has been called into existence to serve all people without distinction or race or nationality. It is non-sectarian. The fact that Doctor Huxley, Director General of Unesco, is an atheist has caused criticism. Unesco's funda- mental principle, however, is educa- tion a.nd surely an atheist needs educa- tion. Military experts tell us that there is no military defense against the weapons of modern war. If that is true, then we must find a greater de- fense. Where better can we look than at the Preamble to the Constitution of Unesco where we find these stirring words: Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be con- structed.' It is for us the youth of today to help construct these defenses. We must strive to lift human thinking to planes where understanding, mutual sympathy, andfriendliness abide. Un- less we of this generation realize our responsibility to the human race there will be no next generation. We must either exchange ideas or bullets. Thus in conclusion may we quote from Milton S. Eisenhower, Chairman of the United States Commission for Unesco: 'It is essential for each citi- zen to constitute himself a one -person committee on Unesco, and by reading, reflection, and discussion develop a deep understanding of cultures, peo- ples, and problems--for such under- standing is the platform on which the kindly people of the world who want peace must take their stand. 7! PEACETIME POTENTIALITIES OF ATOMIC ENERGY By Winthrop Wade Since the dropping of the second atomic bomb and the end of the war, the United States government and the world have been ever watchful of the fut1u'e of atomic energy. Every na- tion in the world realizes its power and therefore, the control of the atom and atom bomb has been hotly de- bated in the chambers of the United Nations, and naturally the United States has taken a firm stand on its control and is itself making great progress in the harnessing of atomic energy for peacetime use. The United States government has allocated S7 5,000,000 for atomic re- search. It has established three na- tional laboratories to work on peace- time atomic energy: the Brookhaven Laboratory, on Long Island, the Ar- gonne Laboratory outside Chicago, and the Clinton Laboratories at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Affiliated with these three national laboratories are fifty-two colleges and universities which use these laboratories to carry on experi- ments for the government. Although these laboratories have their own staffs and workers, the colleges play a large part in marming them. Under the present program, the 375,000,000 will be expended for equipment and 3

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time it is a campaign to provide a ba- sic minimum of education to all the peoples of the world. For example-- the peoples of China and East Africa are perhaps the most illiterate and isolated. Unesco plans to make pilot projects' in which they will take the A. B. C.'s directly to these people and in turn bring back a valuable experi- ence in their habits and customs. Preparations are in progress to launch a fourth such project in India next year. Another project which seemed to me most interestingwas the challenge to harness the wealth of the Amazon Valley. Doyou realize that the people of the Amazon are still in the Stone Age ? If we could educate those people and bring the valley into food produc- tion, think what results we would gain in increased amounts. of oil, rubber, and sugar. I am glad to say that Unesco has accepted that challenge and within the next century the people of the Amazon may catch up with wes- tern civilization in education and pro- duction. The third main Unesco project-- Education for International Under- standing--perhaps most nearly fits the sole purpose of Unesco and the U. N. as a whole, which is to contrib- ute to peace. The goal of the project is to harmonize international relations and strengthen goodwill among the peoples through the medium of educa- tion. Unesco works in conjunction with many organizations to increase the flow of education and culture to all peoples. I will try to mention a few ways in which Unesco is trying to ac- complish world understanding. To 2 promote the exchange of ideas, teach- ers are sent to foreign countries for one year but are remunerated by their own Boards of Education. The foreign Board of Education finds living quar- ters and acts as their hosts. The teachers take new ideas to the foreign country and bring back new experi- ences to their own country. ' It is equally important that chil- dren understand each other and ac- cept thefact that they must live, work, and learn together. Thus a second method is the exchange of students wherein potential leaders of foreign countries are brought into better un- derstanding of American ways, and vice versa, through daily associa- tion in study and play with students of other countries. Wherever it can be accomplished it is desired that these students visit in an average home. The foreigner's knowledge of America, for instance, is too often based on the sumptuous movie homes or the lowly slums. They do not realize that a very comfortable middle class exists here. Someof our schools are also pro- moting the exchange of correspond- ence among the students of different countries. Aside from the romance this provides for the average teen- ager, it is an excellent opportunity for the youth of today, who will be the adult of tomorrow, to imderstand his neighbors. Unesco also promotes adoption of war orphans. By such adoption I do not mean that the adopted child is brought into the home of the foster parent. The foster parent provides the money and Unesco makes provi- sions for the child's welfare and edu-

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materials, while the money for work- ers' and scientists' wages will come from the colleges, universities, pri- vate enterprises, and other interested sources. At the present time, any individual can go to any one of these laboratories and work on atomic re- search after first being investigated by the government. Also, the Atomic Energy Commission has recently es- tablished a 51,000,000-a-year pro- gram, which is expected to run for five years, to send graduate students to universities all over the country for training in atomic research in medi- cine and biology. The whole object in expending all this money for research, is the improving of techniques for releasing and utilizing atomic energy for peacetime purposes. Atomic energy is the heat, light, and power emitted when a stray neu- tron hits an atom of the element urani- um, and splits the atom into particles, some of which are neutrons. The splitting of the atom is called afis- sion, and from this fission, the neu- trons which were released bounce away at aterrific speed and split every time, a chain reaction is thus devel- oped and an explosion occurs. The atomic bomb is just this type of chain reaction, but if the fission can be made to occur slowly, it can be controlled, and the heat and energy utilized. To slow down the fission, the uranium slugs or cylinders are packed in graphite which repels the passage of the neutrons, and the chain reaction is slowed down sufficiently so that an explosion does not occur, and only the heat from the fission is emitted. In view of utilizing atomic energy for peacetime purposes, there are 4 . three major problems and hundreds of minor ones which confront the sci- entist and engineer in their search for new uses of the energy. The first and greatest is the selection of structural materials which are capable of with- standing the intense heat evolved from the atomic fission. Second, is the de- velopment of methods of extracting the heatfrom the atomic system. The third andforemost, as a safety factor, is the protection of workers from the lethal gamma rays which are constant- ly given off by the fission. The only protection foreseen now is the con- struction orf huge lead or concrete shields, perhaps a foot thick, which would repel those deadly rays and insure safety to the workers. The hun- dreds of minor problems develop chiefly from these three major ones. As research continues and the solutions to the problems are found, the prophecies for the future of atomic energy will be based more on fact. The persons who are able to predict with the greatest accuracy are, of course, the scientists, and those on the Atomic Energy Commission guess that it will be five years before atomic energy can be used in peacetime in- dustry. Dr. Lyle B. Borst of the Brookhaven Laboratory predicts that in ten to twenty years atomic energy will compete with coal as an industrial fuel. Although atomic energy is es- timated to cost 2.696 more than coal, its heat energy is twenty-nine times greater than that of coal. Other sci- entists entertain the belief that in thirty to fifty years, atomic energy can supplement the resources of the world. It may not be too fantastic to contemplate that someday the North