ELECTROXICS ZWORYKIN 237 



Concurrently, there will unquestionably be a continued great in- 

 crease in the application of electronic components in all departments of 

 life. In heavy industry case-hardening and annealing of metal parts 

 by radio-frequency currents already plays a large role. Gluing of 

 plywood, heat detonation of explosive rivets, sealing of metal tubes, 

 welding of plastic sheet, and dehydration of antibiotics are other 

 effective uses of radio-frequency heating. In the food industry the 

 same technique may be employed for the sterilization of packaged foods 

 and liquids, the blanching of vegetables, and specialized cooking 

 operations. Food sterilization by bombardment with electrons in the 

 million-electron-volt range also appears to be a promising field. In 

 medicine radio-frequency fields may not only be employed for certain 

 types of therapy but, in addition, the "radio knife," which seals the 

 capillaries severed in an incision, is a valuable aid in surgery. 



Up to this point we have considered the power output of electronic 

 devices ; of quite as great importance is their employment for analyti- 

 cal and diagnostic purposes. The use of very -high-energy X-rays for 

 th.Q detection of flaws in machine parts, facilitated by electron image 

 amplifiers, will become increasingly standard practice. Similarly, 

 spectroanalysis of the alloys used for machines and manufactured 

 products with the aid of automatic recording equipment employing 

 multiplier phototubes will be much more general than it is at present. 

 Isotope tracer methods in chemical and metallurgical studies will call 

 for scintillation counters and other electronic equipment in increasing 

 numbers. 



The same devices will find extended use for diagnosis, therapy, and 

 research in medicine and biology. Many time-consuming routine 

 operations, such as the making of blood counts, can certainly be car- 

 ried out more speedily and accurately by electronic methods. Tele- 

 vision techniques applied to the study of the variation in skin 

 potential distribution already hold much promise for the rapid diag- 

 nosis of brain tumors and heart conditions, yielding information in 

 much more readily interpreted form than that supplied by the con- 

 ventional electroencephalograph and electrocardiograph. There can 

 be little question that the measurement of body potentials and their 

 variation, made possible by amplifying equipment of high sensitivity, 

 will prove of increasing value in many other areas of medical diagno- 

 sis and biological research. 



The electron microscope, also, is likely to find not only increasing 

 use as a research tool in biology, chemistry, and metallurgy, but, on 

 the basis of research findings, as a diagnostic aid as well. The intro- 

 duction of smaller, more compact models of the electron microscope, 

 supplementing the larger research instrument, should prove particu- 

 larly valuable here, just as in routine chemical tests. At the same 

 time, fundamental research probing into basic life processes, the 



