8iS 



NA TURE 



[December 8, 1923 



was to embody prevailing views and propound a new 



philosophy. 



In his " New Atlantis," Barx)n planned a palace of 

 invention, a great temple of science, where the pursuit 

 of nntuml knowledge in all its branches was to be 

 organised on principles of the highest efficiency. His 

 Solomon's House was regarded as a prophetic scheme 

 of the Royal Society, and the story of it as a vision of 

 the practical results to ht anticipated from diligent 

 and systematic study of Nature. By the establish- 

 ment of research professorships the Society is directly 

 creating a body of experimenters on this design, which 

 was that originally conceived for it, in addition to being 

 " the Store-House of Natural Philosophy." 



When a research professor is already associated with 

 a university or other teaching institution, the appoint- 

 ment will mean that the professor will be relieved of 

 his lectures and other duties of instruction of students. 

 The amount of time which this work and participation 

 in administrative affairs demand differs in different 

 centres, but in most cases it leaves little opportunity 

 for sustained attention to research problems. Prof. 

 Alfred Fowler, who has been appointed to one of the 

 Yarrow research fellowships, is professor of astrophysics 

 at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, 

 London ; and though he has not perhaps been so 

 overwhelmed with instructional responsibilities as are 

 many professors in provincial universities, yet much of 

 his time has had to be given to them, and the time 

 left for his experimental investigations has been 

 correspondingly limited. 



Prof. Fowler's main contributions to astronomical 

 physics are described in Sir Charles Sherrington's 

 presidential address. The modem phase of his work 

 may be said to have begun in the year 1912, when he 

 succeeded in obtaining, from a tube containing helium 

 and hydrogen, certain series of lines, some of which had 

 previously been observed only in the spectra of a few 

 stars or had been predicted on theoretical grounds as 

 forming part of the spectrum of hydrogen. Shortly 

 afterwards, Bohr published his now famous theory of 

 the origin of spectra, in the light of which the series 

 detected by Fowler were seen to be due to helium, and 

 with this discovery began the close association between 

 the experimental work of Fowler and the theoretical 

 work of Bohr which has led to such remarkable advances 

 in recent years. 



In the Bakerian Lecture of 19 14, Fowler showed 

 that the enhanced lines of the alkaline earth metals 

 formed series precisely similar to those of the " arc " 

 lines, except that the series constant had four times 

 its normal value. According to Bohr's theor>', this 

 meant that the enhanced lines were produced by 

 atoms which had lost one electron, and the generalisa- 



NO. 2823, VOL. 1 12] 



tion at once followed that the atoms of any elet; 

 which had lost one electron would )'ield scries ha\ 

 4X in place of the Rydl)erg constant, N. Gut; 

 the process still further, Fowler has recently sb 

 that the spectrum of silicon contains series char: 

 by a constant 16N, indicating the exisiin( « of i 

 atoms which have lost three electron 



A great deal of Prof. Fowler's time in l-m. di •, 

 to the training of research .student >, who>' 

 testifies to the encouragement and help th' 

 received from him. Curtis's determination ot tht 

 Rydberg constant for hydrogen, and Catalan's re- 

 markable paper on the spectrum of manganese, i 

 be mentioned as two of many examples of work 

 this kind. It is a matter for regret that hi«; 

 appointment entails the cessation of tL 

 and interesting courses of lectures from wlu' n >tu<; 

 of the Royal College of Science have benefited for n 

 than twenty years, but there is no doubt that the _ 

 to science resulting from his larger opportunities ,1 

 research work will be immense. 



Major Taylor has not occupied a professorial cL 

 but he is lecturer in mathematics at Trinity Colli 

 Cambridge, and will continue his work there as 1'. 

 Fowler will at the Royal College of Science. The new 

 professors may take part in instruction, or not, but no 

 work of this kind is to be undertaken if it should 

 prevent them from giving the best of their energies to 

 research. The holders of the Yarrow research professor- 

 ships are to devote their whole time to research : i 

 mathematical, physical, chemical, or engineering scieii' . 

 The professorships are similar to the Foulerton medical 

 research professorship of 1400/. or more per annum, ami 

 may be compared with the Foulerton medical resear. h 

 studentship of 700/. per annum, the Sorby researi h 

 fellowship of 600/. per annum, and the Beit memorial 

 senior medical research fellowships of 600/. per annum. 

 Particulars of these are given in the Yearbook of the 

 Universities of the Empire (Appendix XXIV.). It may 

 be of interest in connexion with these endowments to 

 mention that there are a few similar foundations in the 

 United States, notably the Heckscher Research Founda- 

 tion, established in 1920 in Cornell University. *' .\> 

 research in America," said the founder, "suffers 

 from the exhaustion of professors by teaching and 

 other duties, it is my desire that professors and in- 

 structors . . . shall ... for such periods of time as 

 the university authorities may prescribe, be Iiberat(.<l 

 partially or wholly from those duties," etc. ; for tlu- 

 present the income is not to be used for permanent 

 research professorships. Senator Vilas likewise Ix- 

 queathed to the University of Wisconsin money lor 

 creating ten chairs of pure research without routine 

 work, in which the salaries (10,000 dollars) would attract 



