2^90- 



NATURE 



[May 5, 1921 



ago chemistry was counted one of the "other 

 branches of physics." 



Some of us in the early days of the war faced 

 very sadly the difficulty of bringing home to some 

 of our rulers the value of physics and the services 

 physicists could render. Five years of trial have 

 enforced the lesson, and now it is widely realised 

 that in many branches of work the physicist is able 

 to give much-needed help ; opportunities are open 

 to him in widely different directions. 



It may be useful to consider some of these. 

 Fifty years ago a few ill-paid teaching posts were 

 all to which a physicist could aspire. The love of 

 discovery, the desire to fathom the secrets of 

 Nature, to give a physical explanation, bringing 

 into their due relation facts apparently disjointed 

 and diverse, brought their own reward — a reward 

 sufficient for the few who devoted their lives to 

 science. And this still remains. Much has been 

 learned ; but Nature still hides many secrets, and 

 for the man who can unravel these there is still 

 an ample re^vard. But the task of nearly all pro- 

 fessional physicists must be humbler far. They 

 can assist the work of the discoverer by reducing 

 the period of suspense which, as Sir Joseph 

 Thojnson pointed out, will always elapse between 

 a great discovery and the full realisation of its 

 meaning ; they can check some of its con- 

 sequences, indicate the directions in which it may 

 be of service, or carry out supplementary investi- 

 gations under the guidance of the discoverer 

 himself. 



Such wbuld be the work of the young student in 

 the university laboratory training for his profes- 

 sion. And the openings in that profession are very 

 numerous ; at present it is hard to find men to fill 

 them ; the heads of the fighting Services have real- 

 ised their need of the physicist. At Woolwich 

 there is a well-equipped laboratory employing a 

 number of highly skilled men. Gunnery has its 

 problems which only the trained physicist can 

 solve, and calls to its assistance the help of the 

 meteorologist and the engineer. Sound ranging, 

 the methods of protection against aircraft, signal- 

 ling, the. use of wireless telegraphy, the application 

 of the petrol engine to transport work, and a host 

 of other questions, are examples of the need for 

 physicists in -military work. 



!:Nor is the. Air Service less dependent on the 

 physicist,, Questions which he alone can solve 

 are- brought before every- meeting :Qf the, Aerp^ 

 nautical Research Committee, and it is only; 

 lack t>f funds that prevents a far • larger hiinabe*' 



of physicists from being employed at the National 

 Physical Laboratory, at Farnborough, and at the 

 other experimental stations of the Air Ministry, 



In the Naval Service steps have lately been 

 taken . to organise more fully the Scientific 

 Services, Mr. F. E, Smith, the recently appointed 

 Admiralty Director of Scientific Research, gave 

 some account of these at the Cardiff meeting of 

 the British Association last August. For certain 

 parts of the work it is hoped to utilise the oppor- 

 tunities afforded by the National Physical Labora- 

 tory, and an admirable building has been erected 

 at Tedditigton in which work of a strictly con- 

 fidential character can. be carried on ; the Signal 

 School at Portsmouth has been reorganised ; while 

 work on the petrol engine, commenced during 

 the war under Sir Dugald Clerk at the Imperial 

 College, is now being continued in a special 

 Admiralty laboratory. 



Other Government Services, as well as private 

 firms and individuals, have access to the National 

 Physical Laboratory, where, according to the last 

 report, well over one hundred scientific assistants 

 are employed. In the Government service alone 

 there is now engaged a large class of professional 

 physicists occupying permanent posts with reason- 

 able opportunities for advancement and, in the 

 majority of cases, superannuation privileges. 



Or, again,. turning to another class of service^ 

 many, possibly most, of the Research Associations 

 established under the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research depend on the physicist for 

 their investigations, while in almost every large 

 industry there is a demand for his work. The 

 need for an Institute of Physics to care for the 

 professional interests of the large number of men 

 who have already embraced the profession, and 

 of the still larger number who will be required 

 so soon as trade revives, and may hope by their 

 work to advance the date of its revival and to 

 accelerate its progress, is amply proved. , The 

 object of the institute will be to promote the 

 efficiency and usefulness of its members by setting 

 up a high standard of professional and general 

 education and knowledge, and by compelling the 

 observance of strict rules of personal conduct as 

 a condition of membership ;' an association of men 

 who, ih Mr.: Balfour's words, "by the growth of 

 science and invention would give comfort and 

 leisure where at present discomfort and labour 

 wefe the bnly meahs' df' pi'oducing ah Article,'* 

 I arid b^ their example w'ould teach 6hx peopile ba^sr 

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