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University Daily Kansan
Big Bertha, Others Help Astronomers Study Sky
By KEN BRONSON
"The Moon is Blue" was the name of a show, but astronomy students have a different meaning for the phrase. For them, it means traveling up five flights of stairs in Lindley hall to spend an evening looking at the moon.
As one student put it, "If anyone had told me in high school that I would be looking at the moon and not feeling romantic, I would have thought he was crazy!"
But the astronomy students aren't the only ones to have troubles. Take Big Bertha for instance. How would you like to have several dozen students peering down your insides all the time? Big Bertha does have, and she doesn't seem to mind a bit.
You see, Big Bertha is a 27-inch reflector telescope. She not only has the distinction of being the largest telescope in the KU observatory, but she also is the only one that is homemade.
The School of Engineering and Architecture made most of the innerworkings of Big Bertha. A Kansas City man, William Pitt, did all the grinding and polishing of the glass, which was about the only thing bought for the telescope.
A skilled amateur astronomer, Mr. Pitt worked more than a year on the job. A disc of pyrex glass was used, the same material later used by the 200-inch telescope at Mc. Palomar, Calif.
While the telescope was started in 1627, it was not put into operation until the observatory on Lindley was completed in 1952.
How much is Eig Bertha worth?
Dr. N, W. Storer associate professor of astronomy, says the value would be hard to estimate, "but the glass alone would probab" cost around $15,000 row."
Bertha has two contemporaries in the Londley hall observatory. One is a 6-inch refractor telescope and the other is a 3-inch transit styie telescope.
Most students have little chance to look through the big 27-inch telescope, which is used only by the more advanced astronomy students and the professors. The 6-inch telescope handles most of the students' needs. It is possible to see most of the planets and the moon through it.
Big Bertha has another distinction. She has to be turned by a motor while the smaller instruments can be turned by hand. She stands in a 10-ton concrete block and has a dome track 21 feet in diameter.
The transit instrument also is used by the students—mainly for determining time, which it can get down to the nearest 1-100 second.
Most of the people on open house nights will never get a chance to use Fig Best, which instructs them to stuffing and ready for the public on those nights.
An open house is planned next spring for students and Lawrence townspeople may come in and inspect the instruments.
But while Big Bertha isn't the center of attraction now, on August 21, 2017, she will have the biggest day of her lifetime. On that day a total eclipse of the sun, the first one since 1878, will take place.
KDGU Schedule
4:00 Stardust in Song
4:30 New Sounds
4:55 Your Union
5:00 Pachworks
5:30 Facts on Record
5:55 News
6:00 Fantasy in Strings
6:30 In the Mood
6:55 News
7:00 Bookstore Hour
8:00 Notes in the Night
8:00 Sign Off
Washington — (U.P.)— Compromise on the Social Security tax dispute to give the little fellow a break seemed today to be on the way. This could be accomplished by increasing personal income tax exemptions from the present $600 figure, perhaps with fringe benefits such as tax allowances for the care of children of working mothers.
Tax Hike Cut By Exemption
Sen. Homer Ferguson (R-Mich.) suggested last night in a televised interview that Congress might ease the tax burden on lower income groups that way.
Opposition to postponement was sufficient to show that Congress would refuse again to act. Chairman Daniel A. Reed (R-N. Y.) of the House ways and means committee said in a statement otday that he foresees "absolutely no possibility" of action now to rescind the Social Security hike of from one and one-self to per cent which became effective Jan. 1.
Congress refused last year to act on President Eisenhower's proposal that the Social Security tax increase be postponed. The President did not renew the suggestion last week in his annual message on the State of the Union.
LoBello to Speak At SUA Coffee Hour
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An informal coffee and discussion hour for students and faculty members will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Music and Browsing room of the Student Union.
Nino Lobello, sociology, will tell of experiences on Skid Row in Chicago. Other speakers at these gatherings have been John Ise, professor of Economics, O. P. Backus, assistant professor of history, Richard E. Barker, instructor of English.
Mr. Reed said he is "in complete accord" with the Administration decision against trying to block the Social Security tax increase.
The discussions, sponsored by Studen Union Activities are of a general nature, aimed at having students and faculty members become better acquainted.
The Mason-Dixon line stretching along the southern Pennsylvania-northern Maryland border was established to settle disputes over private land grants and not as a dividing line between North and South.
Hall to Run For Governor; Arn Will Fight
Topeka—(U.P.)-Lt. Gov. Fred Hall, when won a second term two years ago despite the unprecedented opposition of the state's chief executive, announced late yesterday he would be a candidate for governor.
Gov. Edward F. Arn, like Hall a Republican, will not run for a third term, but undoubtedly will array his administration forces against the 37-year-old Dodge City attorney in the August primary.
At Kingman, State Sen. Paul Wunsch, president pro tem of the Senate and mentioned as Gov. Arn's choice as Mr. Hall's opponent in the race, said he had not made up his mind one way or another.
Mr. Wunsch said he did not expect to announce his decision anytime "within the next few days."
Mr. Hall said in his announcement that "the issue confronting the Republican party (in Kansas) today is the abuse of public trust and the restoration of faith and dignity in the administration of our government.
"Party harmony is desirable but not at expense of good govern-"
"ment." He said.
Never before 1952 had a Republican governor of Kansas actively attempted to defeat a GOP state official seeking renomination. After winning over state Sean, Wayne Ryan, Clay Center, the administration-backed candidate, Mr. Hall was returned to office in the general election with the highest vote ever cast for a state office candidate.
He also claimed that Wes Roberts, later to become Republican National chairman, had been instrumental in what he termed the "unsuccessful purge."
Civil Service Jobs Open to Students
These jobs which pay $2,750-$315 a year are in the states Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
Applications now are being accepted in the Ninth U. S. Civil Service region for student trainees in metallurgy, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering.
An examination will be given to recruit persons who are enrolled, or who will enroll in an appropriate field at an accredited college or university designated by the Federal employing agency. Those accepted will be employed during periods they are not attending college.
Application forms and information on the positions may be obtained from Norman Denton, examiner in charge, at the Civil Service window at the Lawrence postoffice.
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Eisenhower's Message May Start Controversy
Washington—(U.P.)—Republicans and Democrats agreed that President Eisenhower's farm and labor messages today will touch off two controversies guaranteed to keep Congress in turmoil for months.
Already the fires of dissension were crackling. Sen. Homer Ferguson (R.-Mich) said in a televised interview that rank-and-film laborers and farmers will endorse the proposals even if their leaders do not.
Democrats predicted general disapproval. Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-Wash.) said in a television broadcast that it is "quite obvious" the President's farm program will not be passed by the Senate.
He called the idea of flexible farm price supports a "repudiation" of GOP campaign promises.
Mr. Ferguson conceded yesterday the labor message is certain to draw fire from labor and management because it falls short of their demands respectively for outright repeal of the Taft-Hartley law or no amendment at all.
In a radio speech for Texas stations yesterday, Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon B. Johnson said Senate Democrats will pursue "the politics of responsibility" during the current session of Congress while the Republicans wage a "tug-of-war" over whether to support or to reject administration programs.
Sen. William F. Knowland, Senate GOP leader, said in a television interview yesterday (NBC "meet the press") that no one expects 100 per cent of the President's program to be enacted but that it will have "a good batting average."
Other congressional developments:
1. GOP leaders called up several minor bills for passage in the Senate today with a measure to increase cotton acreage allotments scheduled
for debate tomorrow. The House is marking time while committees work up a schedule of business.
Busy, Beautiful Coed Wins Title, Vacation
2. A compromise appeared in the works in a dispute over the Jan. 1 jump in social security tax rates. This could take the form, observers said, of a boost in personal income tax exemptions, with perhaps some fringe benefits covering the care of children of working mothers.
Miami Beach, —(U.P.) A talented brown-haired beauty from the University of Miami held the title as national college queen today and wondered what she would do with one of her prizes—a week's vacation at a hotel just across Biscayne Bay.
Toby Gerard, 21-year-old journalism senior, said she was "just too busy" working her way through college to take a vacation now, even if it was only across the bay.
The tall, dark-eyed campus queen won over 18 other beauty finalists in the first contest to choose a national beauty queen who would signify brains as well as beauty.
National Forests in North Carolina cover 1,118,063 acres, the largest amount of land in the state under single administration, as the Pisgah-Croatan and Nantaha forests have been combined into a single group designated as the North Carolina National forests.
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