Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1963 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
University Research: The Key to Kansas' Future
The key that will unlock the treasure house of industrialization for Kansas, citizens of the state have been told repeatedly, is university research.
"The availability of trained minds overshadows even such factors as the labor market, water supply, and power resources," said a Defense Department report.
Where does Kansas stand in recruiting trained minds for its faculty and providing trained minds in the form of science graduates? What is the research capability of one of its major institutions of higher education, the University of Kansas?
Look at one department: physics.
Look at one department: physics. In KU laboratories physicists are bombarding atomic nuclei with a powerful Van de Graaff generator to learn more about the inner workings of the core of the atom. They are subjecting material to strong magnetic fields to learn more about its physical makeup. They are cooling atoms almost to freezing to study their structure and behavior. They are probing the abstract realm of theoretical physics.
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MUCH OF THIS COULD be related to the basic knowledge industry needs. And yet the university, limited by funds and even more by the need for more scientific talent, is a considerable way from having one of the really outstanding physics departments in the United States, according to its own faculty members.
The emphasis, as in most physics departments, is on specialization in certain areas of research. But the need, say the faculty men, is for a few more imaginative physicists to add spark to this research.
Is this of any importance to the citizens of Kansas? The Atomic Energy Commission thinks so. So does the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation and many other scientific agencies. They support the research of physicists and other scientists at the university without any particular promise of applicable results.
THE KU PHYSICISTS are doing basic research, the "what makes
grass green" kind of inquiry that is the foundation for all scientific knowledge. They never know until their research is finished whether it will have any practical value. Sometimes they don't know then.
Richard Sapp, associate professor of physics, for instance, studies how atoms behave when cooled to within a few thousandths of a degree of absolute zero, about minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit. He dips material into liquid helium, which boils at 452 degrees below zero.
At this super-cold temperature, atomic particles move more slowly. Then Sapp cools the material even more by a process called adiabatic demagnetization, or magnetic cooling, which involves exposing a substance to extreme magnetic force fields in one of the university's powerful electromagnets.
THE MAGNETIC FORCE produced by the most powerful of these, incidentally, is about 40,000 times that of the earth's magnetic field.
The application of the magnetic field imparts some heat which is carried away by the liquid helium. The magnetized material is then isolated from the helium and the magnetic field is removed. This "demagnetization" causes the material to cool very near to the absolute zero of temperature.
The Chancellor's work is never done—and the Christmas vacation is no exception.
Now the atom is almost frozen, and it moves sluggishly. Now is when physicist Sapp can make the most careful study of the atom's structure.
Chancellor Gets Little Vacation
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe will be in his office nearly every day of the coming 16-day vacation. Surprisingly enough, his office will get more work done than usual. "We have more time for conference and committee meetings then," he said.
December 20, Barbara, the Chancellor's 20-year-old daughter will fly home from Bloomington, Ind., where she is a freshman at the University of Indiana. Christmas day, Mrs. Wescoe's parents are expected to join the family here in Lawrence. The Wescoe's also have two sons, David, 9, and Bill, 17.
One of the things he seeks is knowledge about how atoms within a substance are positioned when exposed to this extreme magnetic field of force and cold temperature.
JACK CULVAHOUSE, associate professor of physics, has some related research interests. His research is in radio frequency spectroscopy—the measuring of radio and light waves with the aid of magnetism.
As in all aspects of modern physics, however, this is more complicated than it sounds. Culvahouse measures these waves by placing a magnetic field on a substance, then
determining which radio-wave frequencies are absorbed.
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A magnetized substance can absorb energy from these waves when its magnetic dipoles—tiny structures within the atom—have become aligned by the force of the magnet
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THUS. PROF. CULVAHOUSE not only measures radio waves, but probes the deepest inner workings of the atom. From this kind of study, physicists hope to learn more about the basic structure of solids and liquids.
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Some of the research has a practical application. By learning more about the basic properties of magnetism, engineers have been able to produce better ferromagnetic materials, which in turn make possible better radio equipment. Some KU physics research also is related to the production of Maser and Laser light beams used in industrial research.
Practical applications, however, are not the physicists' primary concern. Most of their work, and their first interest, is in basic research. Their findings may not have immediate practical value, but they are certain that basic facts about our universe are needed before any scientific advance can be made.
This, then, is the nature of basic research: to find an answer before technology asks a question, and by stimulating imaginative but disciplined thought, to cause interesting technical questions to be asked.
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generator, nuclear physicist Ralph Krone, professor of physics, bombards the nuclei of atoms with other atomic particles set in motion by the machine. This is done to probe a nucleus and learn its internal structure.
USING KU'S NEW Van de Graaff
"We are trying to understand what holds the nucleus together," Prof. Krone said. "If we can learn more about this, we may have some clues to a fourth basic force in nature: nuclear force."
sored research in physics has passed $600,000 in the past two years.
The other three are gravity, electricity, and magnetism.
The experiments are complicated and require large amounts of energy The KU Van de Graaff generator, a relatively small one, generates three million electron volts. With this energy, nuclear particles can be hurled against the nucleus of an atom. The resulting interaction provides information about the makeup of the nucleus.
THE NEW GENERATOR was installed in May, replacing a similar machine built by Prof. Worth Seagondollar, professor of physics. Prof. Seagondollar did nuclear research for the National Science Foundation, and now contributes his time to a continuing project for the Atomic Energy Commission in cooperation with Prof. Krone.
AEC support of Krone's nuclear studies this year totals $118,000. In the past 14 years, the AEC has contributed about a half million dollars to KU nuclear research. Total spons-
PROF. JACOB ENOCH, associate professor of physics, one of these theoretical physicists, works in the physics of plasmas. Plasmas are a fourth state of matter to be distinguished from solids, liquids and gasses. He also studies statistical mechanics, the technique for determining—by a study of a few atoms and molecules—how thousands or millions of them should behave.
Behind all this work lies a knowledge of theoretical physics, the basic ideas about the matter and energy of the universe. Some KU physicists concentrate entirely on theoretical studies.
THE KU PHYSICISTS ARE agreed, however, that careful, selective expansion of research activities can mean a great deal to the stock of area resources. Candidates are being interviewed for the physics department chairmanship, to be vacated next year by Prof. J. D. Stranathan, a veteran teacher who is retiring from administrative duties.
Using this knowledge, he works with Prof. Culvahouse in studying the magnetic properties of matter. Prof. Enoch came to KU last year after working at the General Electric Space Sciences Laboratory at Valley Forge, Pa., and at laboratories at Los Alamos, N.M.
These things may be the key to Kansas' future.
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