Fractional charges are associated with the 

 "quark" theory, which postulated quarks as the 

 basic building blocks of matter to explain some of 

 the anomalies turned up in particle physics re- 

 search. According to the theory, quarks would 

 have either one-third or two-thirds of an electron 

 charge. The discovery of a fractional charge there- 

 fore suggests that quarks may actually exist. The 

 "discovery" of a fractional charge is tentative and 

 is subject to verification by other scientists. The 

 funding of efforts to verify the discovery will be an 

 ongoing activity of high priority for the Physics 

 Division of the Foundation. 



Laser chemistry. An organized effort is being 

 made to support this area so that the unique capa- 

 bilities and opportunities provided for chemistry 

 by lasers will be realized as soon as possible. 



Lasers are creating a revolution in fundamental 

 research on chemical reactions. They can be used 

 to prepare reactants in very well-defined initial 

 energy states; they can selectively put energy into 

 reactants in very well-defined ways (i.e., atoms 

 and molecules can be selectively "heated"); they 

 can be used to detect reaction products in very 

 particular energy states and in very low 

 abundances. They can also induce eflFects not ordi- 

 narily found in chemistry, due to the intense radia- 

 tion fields they provide. From these possibilities 

 new experimental opportunities are developing and 

 the understanding of chemistry is enhanced. Thus, 

 a new experimental technique is providing entry to 

 entirely new areas of both experiment and theory. 



Heterogeneous catalysis. This area will be closely 

 coordinated with wide-ranging research in surface 

 physics and surface chemistry. 



The area of heterogeneous catalysis continues to 

 occupy a position of high priority not only because 

 of its vital importance to the chemical process in- 

 dustry, but also because of the complex nature of 

 the scientific and engineering problems associated 

 with it, the rich promise of breakthroughs and the 

 high potential of applying the methodology to oth- 

 er areas such as enzyme technology. 



Work is being supported that probes the nature 

 of adsorbed surface species, using established, as 

 well as developing, analytical tools. In response to 

 the problems and needs generated by industrial 

 work to develop new catalysts and novel ways to 

 exploit known catalytically active agents, most of 

 the research supported is systematically carried 

 out under realistic conditions approximating those 

 used industrially. 



The study of specific classes of reactions such as 

 oxidation, reduction, and reforming, as well as 

 specific important reactions such as the water-gas 

 shift and methanation reactions, are currently un- 

 der way. In almost all cases the underlying mech- 

 anisms are being worked out with the ultimate 



21 2 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 



objective of predicting catalytic behavior such as 

 reactivity and selectivity and of designing cata- 

 lysts, both chemically and physically. 



Homogeneous catalysis. This area is receiving 

 systematic emphasis and is building on the base 

 created through prior support and stimulation of 

 inorganic chemistry. 



The core of a homogeneous catalyst is a 

 transition metal atom. The complete catalyst com- 

 plex comprises the transition metal and several 

 coordinatively bound chemical groups or ligands. 

 Basic research conducted in this area may have 

 dual significance in that the results also have the 

 potential for immediate industrial application. This 

 area was designated as energy-related and special 

 funding for it was made available in FY 1975 via 

 the Foundation's energy-related general research 

 program. Although no special funding is now pro- 

 vided for homogeneous catalysis, the area neverthe- 

 less continues to receive special attention in the 

 funding of workshops and conferences on the sub- 

 ject. The synthetic inorganic and organometallic 

 chemistry program has been actively involved in 

 organizing a series of international workshops in 

 homogeneous catalysis. The first one was held in 

 Italy in 1976; a second in Japan in September 1977; 

 and a third in France in November 1977. The 

 fourth and fifth in the series involving the United 

 States, Australia, and the Soviet Union are cur- 

 rently being planned. 



Systematic improvement and refinement of re- 

 search on gravity and gravitational interactions. 

 Within the United States more than 85 percent of 

 the funding for university-based research in gravi- 

 tational physics is currently provided by the Foun- 

 dation. This degree of concentration, a result of 

 the Foundation's unique mission to foster the de- 

 velopment of basic research, makes it the world's 

 leading agency for support in this field. 



The nature of gravitational physics underwent 

 marked change in the past few years. Ten years 

 ago, general relativity was largely the province of 

 mathematicians searching for idealized solutions to 

 complex questions. Now, the field is dominated by 

 theoretical physicists, astrophysicists, and experi- 

 mental physicists working on problems overlap- 

 ping the frontiers of current research from astron- 

 omy to elementary particles. Over the past decade, 

 gravitational physics has evolved from dominance 

 by theoretical research to an area with a healthy 

 experimental-theoretical mixture. 



In the search for gravitational radiation, the sen- 

 sitivity of present antennas has advanced four or- 

 ders of magnitude in the past four years. As re- 

 searchers now phase out poly-crystalline metal 

 bars used at room temperature and conclude a 

 switchover to massive, cryogenically cooled dielec- 

 tric single-crystal bars, we may expect to see a 



