162 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
acceptance of Edlén’s proposals. The age-old question of Nicodemus 
arose—how can these things be? These atoms are many thousand 
miles from the photosphere of the sun; and to produce such ionization, 
temperatures of 2,000,000 degrees are necessary. Speculation and 
calculation have followed. A few months ago an explanation was 
given in a letter to Nature by V. Vand of London. Even higher tem- 
peratures he shows to be possible in the low-density regions of the 
corona as a result of collisions of high-velocity atoms falling toward 
the sun from interplanetary space. With the greater density of the 
inner corona and consequent increase in radiation losses, he believes 
conditions may be favorable to just those transitions postulated by 
Edlén. 
VI 
The numbers 136, 137, 256 will awaken in the minds of many of 
you memories of a kindled interest, of perplexity, doubt, expecta- 
tion, and perhaps of moments of great thrill, as you think back 
over the last 15 years. One name alone stands central among these 
memories—that of Sir A. S. Eddington. This has been his play- 
ground pre-eminently. Some of us have stood fascinated at the edge 
of the field watching this illusive game played patiently, skillfully, 
brilliantly by one man, a master juggler with the elements of the 
theory of groups, with quantum mechanics, and with the basic units 
of measurement, producing, as from the proverbial hat, physical con- 
stants both atomic and astronomical. Some there have been who 
paused to watch briefly, to smile or even ridicule the Aristotelian 
tour de force. But steadily and doggedly the theory has been pushed 
forward, several papers having appeared in the last 3 years until 
now the evidence is overwhelmingly great that, with no observational 
data other than three basic constants, namely, the velocity of light 
and the Rydberg and Faraday constants for hydrogen, it is possible 
to calculate theoretically the following 13 physical constants: charge 
e; Planck’s constant; masses of electron, proton, hydrogen atom; 
gravitation constant; fine structure constant; nuclear range-constant ; 
nuclear energy-constant; mass of universe; number of particles in 
universe; Einstein radius of space; nebular speed. This is a striking 
achievement. 
Let us look briefly at just two of these constants. The recessional 
velocity of the spiral nebulae is calculated to be 572.36 km. per sec- 
ond per megaparsec. The observational value of Hubble and Huina- 
son is 560. When the great 200-inch reflector comes into action, we 
shall expect to see the observational value come closer to Eddington’s 
determination. 
The number of independent quadruple wave functions at any point 
is 2X 186 X 2” or 3.15 X10” and in his earlier work Eddington iden- 
: 
