University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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president ' s reception Any new student lucky enough to successfully emerge from the maze of registration, is pleasantly surprised to find an invitation to the President ' s Reception enclosed in his blue envelope. The students, most of whom are participating in their first of the University ' s many traditions, have the pleasure of meeting the very gracious President and Mrs. Sproul and Chancellor and Mrs. Kerr. Furthering the enjoyment of the evening is the opportunity to meet a prominent member of the Senior Class, who after one dance introduces his partner to another new student. Thus begins a round of dancing interspersed with refreshments brought to a close at midnight: everyone returning home with fond memories of their first event at Cal.

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science research The observation of a new kind of neuclear reaction that yields energy and is akin to thermonuclear reactions was made late in 1956 by scientists in the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California. The new phe- nomenon is described as a catalyzed nuclear reac- tion. This adds to ' those re- actions already known a new and third way of making a nuclear reaction take place. In order to make a nuclear reaction take place, two nu- clei must touch. The new dis- covery is a way of pulling two nuclei together so that a proton and a nucleus of heavy hydrogen (a deuter- on) can combine to form helium-three with the re- lease of 5.4 million volts energy. This pulling together takes place in a mesic mole- cule, and is achieved by a mu meson. The reaction is termed a catalyzed reaction because the mu meson is not consumed by the reaction, but may be ejected from the molecule by the energy re- leased. The mu is then free to catalyze more reactions, in chain fashion. The photograph shows a catalyzed nuclear action recorded In a hydrogen bubble chamber by scientists at the UC Radiation Laboratory. Beginning at upper right (A) and streaking almost all the way across the picture in a gentle downard curve is a mu meson. At the end of this track (B) a mesic atom has been formed, and the mesic atom drifts slightly to the left, forming a gap in the track. On the left side of the nap (C) the mesic atom has fused a deuteron and proton into helium, with the ejection of the mu meson, which makes a short track upward and to the left (D). At the end of this short track, the meson stops and decays into an tron which starts toward the right and turves upward to the left (E). 12