Ibex v. Eagle

Polite and friendly but historic is the great dispute between the two foremost U. S. physicists as to what the cosmic rays are made of. Last week, this great dispute progressed a step further.

Dr. Arthur Holly Compton, the University of Chicago's Nobel Laureate, speeding into the far north after a summer of climbing mountains ibex-wise, reached a point on Hudson Bay only 350 mi. from the North Magnetic Pole in time to take cosmic ray readings during the solar eclipse. His mountain-top observations in many latitudes had led him to suspect that cosmic rays are not pulsations from outer space, as Dr. Robert Andrews Millikan thinks, but streams of electrons probably originating in Earth's atmosphere. The nearer the Equator, he observed, the less was the rays' intensity. Towards Earth's poles, the intensity increased. Electrons would give such an effect since they would tend to spiral polewards. His readings last week on Hudson Bay, he telegraphed Chicago, again confirmed his view. What special electro-magnetic effect the eclipse had upon his observations he did not say.

Dr. Millikan was just leaving Pasadena for Winnipeg when he heard about his friendly rival's telegram. From Winnipeg, where he may encounter Dr. Compton, he will fly with an electroscope to as close to the North Magnetic Pole as Royal Canadian Air Corps planes can carry him. There he will make his own cosmic ray readings, then soar eagle-wise southwards to Texas, getting U. S. Army planes after he crosses the border, making electroscopic observations all along the way.

Dr. Millikan's conception of cosmic rays suits his optimistic temperament. He believes the rays are evidence of the Universe's continual physical regeneration. The Compton view, at first inspection, leaves uncontroverted the evidence that the Universe is blazing to chaos. But there may be alternative interpretations, whether or not the forthcoming Millikan observations of cosmic rays coincide with those just collected by Dr. Compton. Interpretations, twinkled Dr. Millikan last week, "will come up later."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.