HEADLINES of the Month Events of interest to Chemists, Chemical Engineers, and EXeCUtiVeS--Reviewed 7 MARCH16. George W. Merck, president Merck & Co., says company will start synthetic vitamin A production this year. 7 MARCH17. University of California announces discovery of element 98, Californium, having the heaviest atom known, a synthetic product of the cyclotron, and in periodic table six steps above uranium. --University of California announces far-flung scientific project aimed to bring about low-cost factory production of hormone substances, exemplified by ACTH and cortisone, that combat arthritis, rheumatic fever, and other stubborn diseases. 7 MARCH18. World’s most powerful atom smasher, a synchrocyclotron generating 385,000,000 electron volts, is shown in operation a t Nevis, Columbia University’s nuclear physics research center, Irvington-on-Hudson, a t preview for pres&. 7 MARCH19. B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. announces output of synthetic rubber is being booked to 85% of designed capacity of government’s plant a t Port Neches, Tex., which it operates. --Union Carbide and Carbon Corp. starts commercial production of synthetic pyrethrum known as Allethrin.--H. P. Gregor, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, announces new methods of obtaining precious metals from sea water a t first conference of Metropolitan Long Island Subsection of -4.c.S.’~New York Section.--Chamber of Commerce of U. S. says state and local governments must shoulder main responsibility for civil defense program that will “minimize” effects of an atomic attack.
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7 MARCH20. Mathieson Chemical Corp. joins with Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. to form $25,000,000 subsidiary which will build a plant for making hydrocarbon chemicals from petroleum gases near Louisville, Ky.--James Boyd, director Bureau of Mines, says T;. S.has a long way to go before its stockpiling program is a success and cites storing problem as one great obstacle. --Federal Trade Commission challenges advertising claims for two antihistamine preparations and issues complaints against producers-Bristol Myers Co. , makers of Resistabs, and Anahist Co., manufacturers of Anahist-charging they have misrepresented therapeutic properties and effectiveness of their products.--Michael Fleischer, U. S. Geological Survey, speaking before Fortheastern Section A.C.S. a t MIT, says if one will dig down a mile he will find about 5 tons of uranium for which Government will pay $35,840 plus bonus of $10,000 for discovery of new mine; he may also find about $3000 worth of gold.
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the Editors
of Civilian Mobilization in national security resources board, tells Senate-House Atomic Committee if U. S. tries to secure absolute security against atomic attack it will have to spend more than $300,000,000,000.-~Brig. Gen. Romulo calls for world conference of scientists to work out new approach to international control of atomic energy.
7 MARCH26. A.C.S. opens meeting in Houston, Tex. Two plans dealing with future of I. G. Farben combine have been proposed in Germany, Heydt Herslen und Soehne, a foreign trade bank at Wuppirtal says; bill proposes future handling of decartelization measures be entrusted to German authorities and that combine be split into three new separate enterprises-Badische Anilin with the Ludwigshafen and Oppau Works; Farbwerke Hoechst with plants at Hoechst, Griesheim, Mainkur, and Offenbach, and Bayer-Leverkusen with the Leverkusen, Dormagen, Uerdingen, and Elberfeld Works. --Munitions Board announces addition of chemical grade manganese to list of materials to be purchased for stockpile. 7 MARCH27. A.C.S. announces Verner Schomaker, associate professor of chemistry, California Institute of Technology, will receive the $1000 A.C.S. Award in Pure Chemistry at the SOCIETY’S Detroit meeting April 17 for his “outstanding contributions in the field of molecular structure.”-NBureau of Mines researchers reveal a t A.C.S. Houston meeting new process increases efficiency with which synthetic gas is converted to liquid fuels and has brought cost of synthetic gasoline and oil from coal much closer to that of natural petroleum. 7 MARCH28. U. S. asks UN to investigate danger ships might pollute seas and shores by use of atomic energy as propulsion.
8 MARCH21. House Appropriations Committee asks for $3,800,000 for basic medical research in field of medicine opened by development of cortisone, ACTH, and related compounds.
7 MARCH29. William Shive, associate professor of biochemistry, University of Texas, is announced as winner of Eli Lilly & Co. Award in Biological Chemistry a t A.C.S. meeting in Houston. --International Tin Study Group agrees to ask Secretary General of UN to convene international conference for purpose of adopting plan to regulate world tin production.--AEC finds accident rate in atomic energy industry 6.37, for every 10,000 man-hours compared with 11.49y0average for all other industries. --G. E. Hilbert, Department of Agriculture, reports department has a new candylike sponge made from cornstarch for use in surgical operations, advantage being surgeon can sew up incision leaving sponge inside, and bod) will digest or absorb it.AEC warns employees and contractor personnel to say nothing in public about technical matters referring to superbomb, even though information might be nonsecret.
7 MARCH22. President Truman nominates Thos. E. Murray, S. Y. engineer, t 3 succeed David Lilienthal as member of AEC, Suninrr T. Pike continuing as acting chairman.
7 MARCH30. Corning Glass Works seeks to enjoin three New York City discount houses from alleged price-cutting of its Pyrex products.
7 MARCH23. AEC will spend about $90,000,000 to construct four new atomic piles, American Iron and Steel Institute reveals.
r[ MARCH 31. Standard Oil Co. of California announces formation of California Research and Development Co. to undertake new research project for AEC in San Francisco Bay area.-Federal District Judge David A. Pine rules against RemingtonRand, Inc., in multimillion dollar suit involving control of General Aniline and Film Corp., finding Remington-Rand failed to establish it had an option to buy a majority stock interest in General Aniline for $25,000,000 from a Swiss holding company, Interhandel.--Britain sets cost of atomic energy program for 12-month period starting April 1 at E61,700,000 or 24,991,104 more than in preceding year.N-AEC orders Scientific American
7 MARCH24. Reynolds Metals Co. applies to U. S. Tariff Commission tor relief from lQw aluminum tariff of 2 cents a pound on primary aluminum to 4.5 cents and on semifabricated aluminum from 3 to 7 cents, and says greatest threat to competition in the industry is the excessively low tariff. 7 MARCH25. Federal Trade Commission accuses Whitehall Pharmacal Co. of “false and misleading’’ advertising on anticold drugs involving Kriptin.--Paul J. Larsen, director, office 933
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
to burn 3000 copies of its April issue because of article on hydrogen bomb by Hans A. Bethe, Cornel1 University.
7 APRIL 1. National Security Resources Board recommends establishment of a national organization as nucleus for “mass blood procurement” in event of atomic attack on this country. “New England medical center develops new and more powerful form of ACTH, said to be about 30 times as potent as &‘ArmourStandard,” a t its Ziskind Research Laboratories. fi APRIL 2. Carlos P. Romulo, president fourth UN General Assembly, calls upon “Big Five to make another supreme effort” to solve problem of atomic energy control.
7 APRIL3. Milwaukee, San Francisco, Detroit, and Providence, R. I., urge Federal Government to assume responsibility for defense against atomic and hydrogen bomb attacks.”Trial of Government’s antitrust suit against Du Pont, Remington Arms Co., and Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., of Great Britain for “a combination and conspiracy” to restrain trade in chemical products, sporting arms, and ammunition in violation of Sherman Antitrust Act opens in New York.”Census Bureau reports wholesalers’ sales of chemicals during February were 11% above same monthlast year.”Research chemists of U. S. Department of Agriculture report discovery of eight new antibiotics in cabbages, sweet potatoes, and bananas, and tests are being conducted to discover their antibacterial and antifungal potentiality.-Delegates of nine Commonwealth countries at secret conference in London unanimously approve concrete proposals to cut dollar oil purchases in favor of sterling area supplies. fi APRIL4. Chairman Vinson of House Armed Services Committee names an 8-man subcommittee to check on progress of Munitions Board in stockpiling materials “strategic and critical” to national defense.
7 APRIL5 . E. H. Volwiler, President A.C.S., is elected president and Drug and general manager of Abbott Laboratories.--Food Administration officials agree generally with bill framed by drug industry which would bar certification of antibiotics.--Rubber industry agrees almost unanimously to support Bricker rubber bill which would systematically pare down Government’s control on end use of synthetic rubber and direct the President to lease Government’s rubber facilities to private operators. ”Robert A. Rlillikan, vice president, California Institute of Technology, says world-wide knowledge of atomic bomb has made possible elimination of aggressive war in our generation, “that atom bomb has done more t o educate every man, woman, and child in the world to that danger than 300 years of preaching and exhorting could have done,’’ and that there is less than one chance in a hundred a mechanical device capable of setting off a hydrogen bomb can be constructed because triggering mechanism would have to be “atom bomb proof.”--Monsanto announces acquisition of a plant on a 9-acre site in Southern California to manufacture styrene.w.vStauffer Chemical Co. announces decision to build two new plants-a million dollar carbon bisulfide plant a t Lowland, Tenn., and an insecticide plant a t Houston, Tex.“Department of Justice launches all-out antitrust investigation of steel industry. fi APRIL7 . Federal Circuit Court of Appeals holds that research firm whose patents are used by nation’s oil refining industry must pay income taxes and thus that Universal Oil Products Co., Chicago, is not entitled to exemption of $1,576,808 in income and excess profit taxes for 1944-46..v-Dow Chemical loses suit instituted by C. D. Skinner, Wilkinsburg, Pa., an inventor, and his associate, Leo C. Bradley, Louisville, Ky., for infringing a patent on dies developed by Skinner. --Electronic tube in physics laboratory of Pennsylvania State College outlines a single molecule of penicillin and contours of a sugar mint and other tiny molecules of matter that are deciding weights in precarious balance between sickness and health for mankind.
Vol. 42, No. 5
7 APRIL8. George Washington University receives two grants, totaling 312,700 for research in chemistry from AEC, one of $7550 for research on the complex fluorides of rare earth elements found naturally in monazite sand and the second $5150 from Office of Naval Research for basic study of organic chemistry. 7 APRIL9. A.C.S. opens meeting in Philadelphia.--Goodyear Tire & Rubber Go. announce3 a $2,250,000 expansion program to enlarge its lines of pliovic vinyl resins a t its chemical division subsidiary, Pathfinder Chemical Corp., Xiagara Falls, N. Y.-U. S. 1949 exports of chemicals and allied products totaled L851,075,000, a decline of less than 1% as compared with 1948, Commerce Department reports. --Harry H. Strauss, president Ecusta Paper Corp., announces construction of new $18,000,000 cellophane plant a t Pisgah Forest.--Aureomycin is one of greatest growth-promoting substances producing effects beyond those obtainable with any known vitamin, E. L. R. Stokstad and T. H. Jukes, Lederle Laboratories Division, American Cyanamid Co., report to A.C.S. 6 APRIL 10. Charles A. Kraus, Brown University and a past president of the A.C.S., Rill receive Priestley Medal, highest award in American chemistry, a t SOCIETY’S fall meeting in Chicago, for outstanding service in chemistry, it is announced a t A.C.S. meeting in Philadelphia.--Discovery of new group of five vitamins, the folinic acids, which discoverer, William Shive, University of Texas, believes eventually may have an important glace in medical treatment of various anemias and of sprue, is announced a t meeting of A.C.S. in Philadelphia.-New isotopes from USAEC permit use of continuous gages on standard low-cost inspection operations by paper, leather, rubber, textile, and metal industries employing strontium 90 as the radioactive material. --.Alfred D. Brown Associates establishes, in conjunction with Indian interests, one of first scientific quality control projects for manganese in India a t Bombay whereby manganese mined in India will be graded properly so that U. S.industrial users will receive appropriate type.--Xational Research Corp. announces issuance of patents and financing of a million-dollar corporation, Holiday Bands, Inc., to produce and market first crystal soluble coffee.“Erwin Mueller, Kaiser WilheIm Institute for Physical Chemistry, developes microscope that permits man to see a single molecule for firat time. 7 APRIL 12. Joseph H. Brennan, chief metallurgist ElectroMetallurgical Division Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., wins Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal for 1950 for his contributions t o metallurgical practices of ferro-alloy industry, Western New York Section, A.C.S., announces, aviard to be made in Niagara Falls May 1 5 . ~ - B . F, Goodrich Chemical Co. announces it will construct $500,000 applied research laboratory a t Avon Lake, Ohio, third unit in company’s multimillion dollar installation there. -43mithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C., dedicates an illuminated aureomycin exhibit to record man’s progress against disease. 7 APRIL 13. Representatives of 20 eastern states and the D. C., meeting in Kew York City, set up permanent organization for planning and integration of civilian defense against either between Senate group and enemy attack or disaster. “Dispute Joint Committee on Atomic Energy discloses confidential plans for protection of, or, if need be, care for millions of civilians.-Federal District Judge, Houston, Tex., blames Government for negligence for April 16-17, 1947, Texas City disaster in which 560 persons lost their lives by fires and explosions that followed blast aboard French-owned freighter and another vessel being loaded with ammonium nitrate.--State Department releases list of chemicals, oils, and paint items subject to “third round” of tariff negotiations in which U. S. will participate with 17 major trading countries a t Torquay, England, starting Sept. 28.
7 APRIL 14. AEC announces a high-priority project to build new kind of atomic engine for submarines.
