and
-an
Imaginary Interview
Announcer: "Ladies and Gentlemen. this afternoon R. H. WRIGHT one of our engineers here in the broadcasting station University of New Brunswick had an unusual visitor. Quite by accident, there Fredericton, New Brunswick was a recording outfit switched on and we are fortuwhat the figure is now, but a few years ago, just in nate in being able to bring you this record of the conversation." Canada alone, we were generating over ten million kilowatts." Engineer: "Two-0-four, two-0-five, call it two-0-four and a half. . ." Faraday: "Kilowatts? I presume that would be named Faraday: "Excuse my interrupting. . . ." from James Watt. He died while I was still a young Engineer: "Half a sec. Two-0-four point five. Oh, man so I didn't meet him-till later. But you were excuse me, sir; what can I do for you?" saying?" Faraday: " I came in to look about, but I very much Engineer: "This country's full of power of one k i d or fear I have lost my way." another. I think it works out a t something like ten horsepower per head of the population." Engineer: "Yeah, I guess it's easy to get lost in this place. I got lost myself a t first too." Faraday: "Now that is something that pleases me mightily. 1 remember France being a very powerful Faraday: "Would i t be an imposition for you to tell me something of your work? What, for example, is country in Bonaparte's time, but no one ever thought this instrumeflt?" of reckoning the power a t so much per head." Engineer: "Sure. This thing I'm testing is a two hun- Engineer: " I dok't think you've quite followed me, sir. dred micromicrofarad condenser out of an i-f-choke. ." The kind of power I'm talking about is mechanical power-the kind we use to describe the performance -Faraday: "A two hundred what?" of steam engines and electrical machinery." Engineer: "Two hundred microminofarads. Do you know much about electricity?" Faraday: "I see . . . . Yes, I remember now, a few years before I retired I heard Mr. J. P. Joule read a paper Faraday: " A little, a little. I am interested in that word, 'micromicrofarad.' Can you tell we where it to the Royal Society along that line. I confess I came from?" did not understand i t as fully as I might have." Enpineer: "Oh, that. It's named after Michael Fara- Engineer: "Come to think if it, I don't believe the idea day." of that k i d of power was properly understood until your electrical discoveries and Watt's steam engine Faraday: "And who, pray, was he?" made it a live issue." Engineer: "I guess he was the greatest British scientist since Sir Isaac Newton, and one of the greatest there Faraday: (Chuckling) "I remember one day young ever was anywhere." Mr. Gladstone (Mr. William Ewart G l a d s t o n e you've heard of him?) came to see some of my elecFaraday: "This is too flattering. . ." trical experiments. After I had shown him them, he Engineer: "No it's not! Look. Between 1820 and 1850 that man managed to lay the foundation for the wanted to know whether they would ever be of any whole modern electrical industry. He made the first practical use. Knowing he was bent on a political electric motor, the first electric generator, he made career, I told him that one day he would be able to the discovery that led finally to the radio, and a lot tax them." more. He did some chemical stuff too, but I don't Engineer: "You hit the nail on the head that time. know much about that. Anyway, I guess Michael The electrical industry is one of the richest there is." Faraday's what you'd call an 'immortal.' " Faraday: "Did I understand you to say just now that all this mechanical power is divided up among the Faraday: "Upon my word, sir, I'm truly embarrassed." population?" Engineer: "What's the matter?" Engineer: "Well, not altogether. Some of the power Faraday: "I am Michael Faraday." plants are publicly owned, if that's what you mean, Engineer: "But he's been dead 80 years." but a good many belong to private corporations." Faraday: "A moment ago you did me the honor of saying I was immortal." Faraday: "What becomes of the power then?" Engineer: "Some of it's used for running industries, Engineer: "Yes, b u t . . ." and a good deal of it is used for electric lightslike Faraday: "Then say no more about it. Just now you that one up there. Here, I'll turn i t on." mentioned the electrical industry. What is that exactly? In my time there was an electrical science Faraday: "Wonderful!" but no electrical industry." Engineer: "And then there are things like vacuum cleiners and electric refrigerators and washing maEngineer: "Well, it's got all kinds of branches. First, chines and s? on." I suppose, there's the power industry. I don't know 25 1
Taraday: "You bewilder me. These things you mention-do I understand yon to say they are all in some way connected with the electric force?" Engineer: "That's right." Faraday: "And everyone has all these things? So ' many kilowatts of them per head?" Engineer: "Not exactly. In the cities most people have electric light, but not'so many have the other things. In the country it's not nearly so good. I forget what percentage of our farms have electric power, but taking the country as a whole I'd say most of them don't." Faraday: "How is that?" Engineer: "They used to say it would cost too much money, but the way things have been done in this war, people just laugh if you tell them that now. We've got all kinds of plans for reconstruction and development now." Faraday: "Development is something I know little about. During my lifetime, it was always my desire to discover new facts and relations rather than to increase the force of things already known. I assured myself that the new facts I discovered would find their full development in due time." Engineer: "Well, we haven't done a bad job of developing them technically. Where we've fallen down so far is in not making it possible for enough people to use them-r in not using them the'right way." Faraday: "What do you mean by that?" Engineer: "Here's one way, Mr. Faraday. Youremember that experiment you did with the iron ring with a coil of wire on each side of it? When you sent an electric current through one of the coils, you got a new current generated in the other coil round on the other side of the ring." Faraday: "Magneto-electric induction. Yes?" Engineer: "Well, since then we've been able to do without the iron ring and also to move the coils farther and farther apart and still pick up the cnrrent in the second coil." Faraday: "I could only separate them a few inches. How far can you do it now?" Engineer: "As far as you like--half way round the world. We've got much more sensitive instruments and of course we use high frequencies. ." Faraday: "This is really wonderful. I. . ." Engineer: "You don't know the half of it, sir. We can send music and people's voices and all sorts of messages all over the world with it!" Faraday: "Might I see this thing?" Engineer: "Sure." (The radio plays the closing passages of Schubert's "Ave Maria.") Faraday: "But this is wonderful. This is beautiful." Engineer: "Yeah. But just go on listening." (The music ends and is followed by the following commercial announcement.) Announcer: "People with tape-worm are always hungry. At the fxst sign of hunger, take Kilslime TapeWorm Tablets and play safe." Faraday: (Profoundly shocked) "How very-ungen-
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teel. Do you suppose anyone else heard that man?" Engineer: "Half the population of North America has to listen to that sort of stuff 20 times a day." Faraday: "But that is monstrous, shameful!" Engineer: "Slime marches on." Faraday: "In 1831 I earned a thousand pounds as a consultant, apart from my small salary a t the Royal Institution. So that I might devote myself to my researches, I withdrew from all commercial work. Was it for this?" Engineer: "It's not as bad as that really." Faraday: "Could it be worse?" Engineer: "The way I look at it is this. Pretty soon people are going to get wise to that sort of muck, and it'll be off the air. The big trouble hasn't been with using things wrong-it's been not using them enough: all those homes without electrical gadgets and all those farms without light and power." Faraday: "You mean, then, that my discoveries may yet receive their full application?" Engineer: "The way people have been talking, there's only one thing that will stop it, and that's another wax.'' Faraday: "Surely, surely, that can be.prevented?Ir Engineer: "I hope so. There's the United Nations and. . ." Faraday: "But do you think it can be?" Engineer: "Look, Mr. Faraday, I'm just a radio mechanic who likes to read and think. ." Faraday: "At your age, I was a book-binder's apprentice who liked to read and think." Engineer: "Well then, I'll tell you. I'm in the radio game and maybe I think my fleas are antelopes, but I don't think those fellows a t San Francisco made the most of their chances. Here, I'll show you something. Listen to this." [There follows a rapid sequence of station calls, like this: "This is the Voice of America --one of the United Nations." "Prague calling. ."
