Editors' Column
even speculating on the require ments for bringing N M R / R D to the point of a workable instrument with commercial viability. This writer feels that nuclear chemistry is being assimilated into our science and educational system at much too slow a rate, especially in an era of exponential growth in population and knowledge. An ex cellent article by Peter C. Goldmark (Trans. New York Acad. Sci., May 1969, ρ 584) brings this into sharper focus: "Nuclear explosions, put to such peacetime uses as the creation of rivers and lakes, will be one of the forces used to provide suste nance for the Earth's increasing population." Consonant with this thesis is the need for nuclear studies in every phase of scientific achieve ment and related human require ment ancillary to the sheer move ment of tons of the Earth's matter. Geochemical exploration, environ mental and life sciences, industry, and agriculture benefit directly from nuclear chemistry. The disturbing facts are that 70% of the chemistry departments in this nation have no nuclear chemists at all, and 70% of the total number of academic nuclear chemists are clus tered in 11% of the 134 PhD-granting departments (data from "Nu clear Chemistry—A Current Re view," National Academy of Sci ences, Washington, 1966). This very low distribution of persons knowledgable in nuclear chemistry in our universities is due in part to the limited number of major equip ment installations (reactors or ac celerators) and in part to the very low total number of people qualified by education to teach nuclear chem istry" (2% of Ph.D.'s in chemistry, 10% of all Ph.D.'s in nuclear struc ture research). Only limited success has been achieved at bringing the study of the nucleus—and a familiarity with nuclear chemistry—into the high school and beginning college levels. College general chemistry textbooks often relegate nuclear chemistry to one of the last—if not the last chap ter. John K. Crum
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Circle No. 117 on Readers' Service Card
VOL. 4 1 , NO. 8, JULY 1969
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