University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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Dr. A. W. Davidson, professor of chemistry and assistant dean of the Graduate School, is instru- mental in the coordination of graduate research projects. We don ' t stop to realize what the research worker goes through. Many of you have had to reproduce the classical proofs of the Pythagorean theorem. Think of what the first man to prove it must have gone through. In the archives of science we find records of bravery, logic and sheer guts not to be surpassed by that on any battlefield. For an example, take the story of the construction of the first atomic pile beneath the University of Chicago ' s stadium. These men knew the principles behind the construction and control of the pile, but they had no idea how to keep their project from exploding. Nevertheless, they set to work, realiz- ing that an atomic pile was nothing more than a controlled atomic bomb and that they might be roasted alive in the white-hot inferno of an atomic explosion. Fortunately, these men succeeded, and we now look forward to the day when the atomic pile will be our chief source of centralized power. The most pathetic thing about research is failure over and over again. Even Einstein says that he is wrong 99% of the time. Although Ein- stein is a modest man, his estimation is probably very close to correct in describing most projects. One outstanding example of this is the story behind the discovery of fluorine, a deadly poisonous gas. Some of the world ' s greatest scientists worked in vain for 75 years to isolate the gas. At least eight are known to have died working with it; how many unknown men were killed is unrevealed. Finally, Henri Moissan isolated the gas in 1886. Moissan was a fanatically neat person, the story being that he once went into a fit of rage at finding a drop of water on his laboratory floor. He was well aware of the 75 years of failures, and it was only by applying all of his passion for neat- ness and precision that he finally succeeded. Yet in his joy and triumph, he nearly wrecked his lab- oratory celebrating. This was one case where the 99% of failures nearly reached the 100% mark; today we have many problems that are also approaching that mark. Most of us will never know that feeling of long repeated failure and then success; but on this campus there are those who are experiencing it now. It is to these men that we wish to pay tribute and to offer our heartiest wishes for good luck and success. The research being done here is by no means confined to the physical sciences, nor even to sciences as far as that goes. The research program here is an immense undertaking including projects concerning government, education, and business. However, since the physical sciences are more tangible, we will concern ourselves with them for the present. Even then we can only glance at a limited field, the projects of the departments of chemistry, physics, the Research Foundation, and the State Geological Survey. With all this in mind, let ' s look at some of the men that are writing to- morrow ' s textbooks. Explosions aren ' t the only things that happen at Bailey Chemistry Laboratories. A good example is the work being carried on by Dr. Jacob Klein- berg. The purpose of the project is to obtain 29

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Dr. Norman Plummer removes newly fired samples of firebrick from the State Geological Sur- vey ' s ceramic kiln. ; . SCIENCE IN THE MAKING: KU 52 by Bob Martin E == me 2 , log 942 == 2.9741, B. P. Mg == 1110- these facts are listed page after page, volume after volume, but who determines them? These facts are the result of blood, sweat, and tears in the truest sense, and they are certainly not obtained by the methods employed by the behind-schedule stu- dent ' s dry lab. Starting with the first applica- tions of Bacon ' s methods of scientific investiga- tion, the man of science has toiled incessantly to explain one curious scientific phenomenon after another. He has worked diligently at his task, failing over and over again, then finally succeeding in a moment of triumph. He has done his job well and in the last hundred years has caused the world to advance faster than it has since the beginning of time. 28

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Top: Tad Shvotsuka, graduate student from Waseda University in Tokyo, contemplates just where to start as he examines some of the Research Foundation ' s massive equipment. Below: Dr. Cordon Wiseman poses with a bat- tery of two oscilloscopes, an electrometer and other measuring devices used in his project. various metals in unusual oxidation or valence states; an example (for those who understand some chemistry) is the formation of aluminum with a plus one or plus two charge instead of the usual plus three. The most interesting thing about the project is the fact that the whole experiment does not use water as a solvent, but liquid ammonia. The advantage of liquid ammonia is that such strong reducing metals as sodium and potassium will dissolve in it much as salt does in water. In- cidentally, besides aluminum, the metals being studied include gallium, indium, magnesium, and ruthenium. The larger portion of research in the chemis- try department is the work of graduate students. Their work is done in the quonset hut behind Bailey. The hut is divided into small rooms; this allows each student to have his own laboratory (and rumor has it that they make excellent day- time sleeping rooms). One interesting graduate project is that of Ronald Jackson, who is working toward his doc- tor ' s degree. This project is the determination of the vapor pressure of cerium, a metal used in cigarette lighter flints. The metal used is particu- 30