PHYSICS 



XXVII. PRESENT DAY OBJECTIVES IN PHYSICS 



Homer L. Dodp-e 



From the Physics Laboratory of the University of Oklahoma. 



(Abstract) 



The primary interest of Physicists is to discover the ultimate 

 nature of matter and the laws describing the activities of matter. 

 At present much investigation is concerned with the internal struc- 

 ture of the atom. In the nineties, evidence rapidly accumulated 

 showing that there was a vast unexplored region within the atom. 

 The isolation of the electron, or negative unit of electricity, opened 

 the way. A little later, radioactivity was discovered and its phe- 

 nomena found to be intimately connected with atomic structure. 



It is now known that the ninety odd elements contain nothing 

 but electricity. Each atom is made up of a nucleus of closely packed 

 particles of positive and negative electricity, called protons and 

 electrons respectively. Around this core there revolve other elec- 

 trons. Physicists are at present very much concerned with the 

 study of the arrangement and motion of the electric charges which 

 for the present may be regarded as the ultimate units of which all 

 matter is composed. 



One of the results of this simplification of ideas about matter 

 is a unification of many of the fields of physics. Conduction of 

 electricity in gases, radioactivity. X-rays and spectroscopy, to name 

 a few apparently different fi-elds, all meet upon common ground. 

 The phenomena of all are based upon the activities of protons and 

 electrons. 



Each field however has its own peculiar problems and each 

 field makes its contributions for the benefit of mankind. Radio- 

 active substances and X-rays as curative agents, the X-ray as a 

 powerful aid in diagnosis, radio com.munication, the modern electric 

 light and many other appliactions of m.odern physics illustrate the 

 fact that a part of the energy of phy.'^icists is directec to so-called 

 practical applications. The increasingly important demands of in- 

 dustry for men with an understanding of modern ph>sics and an 

 ability to apply this knowledge in commercial enterprises is creating 

 the new profession of engineering physics. Within a few decades 

 applied physics is likely to give us new sources of energy by 

 placing at our disposal the enormous stores of energy which exist 



