ATOMIC POWER IN THE LABORATORY AND IN 
THE STARS? 
By Rogpert 8. RIcHARDSON 
Mount Wilson Observatory 
When on August 6, 1945, President Truman announced the destruc- 
tion of the Japanese army base at Hiroshima, he did so in words of 
singular interest to astronomers. 
“It isan atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the 
Universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been 
loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.” 
Several conversations heard shortly afterward indicated that many 
took the President’s words literally, and assumed that radiant energy 
from the sun had in some mysterious way been concentrated in bomb 
containers for use against the Nipponese. Presumably people have 
become so accustomed to startling technological developments during 
the last 3 years, that they are willing to believe practically anything. 
A few remarks clarifying the situation may be of timely interest. 
The most obvious feature about the stars is by far the hardest to 
explain—the fact that they shine! In other words, what is the “force 
from which the sun draws it power”? In their search for an answer, 
astronomers have eagerly seized upon each discovery in physics that 
might posibly help them with their own problems. Thus any sum- 
mary of the various answers given to this question becomes essentially 
an account of the growth in knowledge of the fine structure of matter. 
In this article it is proposed to examine these theories, not so much 
with respect to their intrinsic merit, but more for the gradual modi- 
fication they have undergone as the result of physical discovery. 
Doubtless men have always propounded theories to explain the 
source of the sun’s heat. The first rational theories were not advanced 
until about a century ago, soon after the principle of the conservation 
of energy was clearly recognized. Previously they had been little 
more than mere fanciful speculation. As for example, Sir William 
Herschel’s assumption that the photosphere arises from the decompo- 
1 Reprinted by permission from Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 
vol. 57, No. 338, October 1945. 
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