"I've Been So Busy"

"To the solid ground of nature trusts the Mind that builds for aye" (Wordsworth) is the perpetual slogan on the front cover of Nature, which Writer H. G. Wells has called "one of the best newspapers in the world." A weekly published in London, Nature is an international clearing house for major scientific research, the most famed scientific journal in existence. Scientists all over the world grab copies of Nature from the postman much as cowboys grab for their favorite pulps.

Since November Nature has had no editorial chief. Reason: Sir Richard Arman Gregory, editor since 1919, retired. In 45 years of association with Nature, Sir Richard became one of the Grand Old Men of world science. Last week he visited the U. S. as a sort of goodwill envoy of British learning, making speeches on the philosophy of science and its mission in a disquieted world. This week Sir Richard is scheduled to speak at the winter meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Richmond, where he will undoubtedly be lionized.

Sir Richard's father was a shoemaker who wrote and published several volumes of verse. Born at Bristol in 1864, Richard left school at 12, became a newsboy, printer's devil, shoemaker's apprentice. He studied in his spare time, attracted the attention of Clifton College's headmaster who helped him get an education. He taught for a year, then became assistant to Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, the astronomer who discovered helium in the sun. In 1893 he joined Sir Norman on the staff of Nature, succeeded eventually to the editorial chair. As a final distinction, Sir Richard Gregory will have no successor. Henceforth the editorial affairs of Nature will be managed by a board.

Puffing his pipe in Chapel Hill, N. C. last week, Sir Richard observed: "All my life I've been so busy writing about things that had to be covered that I haven't had time to write about things that intrigued me most. Now that time has come. I've retired as Nature's editor but I have ambitious plans ahead. I'm just 74. My mother lived to be 90 and my father to 84, and, with good health now, I'm not planning to quit."

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