C H E M I S T R Y paid a notable contribution to scientific progress and international peace a t the 111th spring meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY a t Atlantic
City during t h e week of April 14-18. T h e weather was not conducive to recordbreaking attendance, y e t in face of del uging rains and unseasonably low tem peratures a t New Jersey's famed oceanside resort, more than 7,000 registered for the five-day program. Research—chemical research—is the dominant theme of any ACS meeting, na tional or local, but the Atlantic City con ferences had a significance which trans cended domestic considerations. The meeting demonstrated that the American scientist h a s enlisted wholeheartedly in the movement for world peace and co operation. He has done so because, a s one of the speakers aptly phrased it, "For better or for worse, our country has today achieved a position of leadership which i s staggering in scope and opportunity." . I n that leadership, scientific progress
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Over 7,OOO at
IlIt
The suhscrip'ioTX
tlinner o u Wedr
has assumed a dominant role as one can see from the number and the scope of re search papers which are discussed a t the SOCIETY'S general meetings, even though chemistry is but one branch of science. The number of papers scheduled for pres entation a t Atlantic City was 546. and if the same number is read at the fall meet ing, it is equal to the production of three papers for every day of the year. Surely no other branch of science here or abroad has geared itself to such a pace in research. Almost one half of the total papers read • at Atlantic City were concerned with three rapidly advancing branches of chemistry— organic, physical and inorganic, and bio logical. T h e chemist's contribution t o interna tional welfare, therefore, does not consist of what President George Shuster of Hunter College terms, "sweet caramels of eloquence", but, rather, unremitting study and experiment t o achieve better living standards and victory over disease and misery for all mankind.
Dr. Shuster was o n e of the speakers ai SOCIETY'S general meeting, held in At lantic City's Convention Hall, o n e of the country's largest indoor auditoriums ACS President \V. Albert X o y e s , Jr., whe presided a t this meeting, had b&en instru mental in arranging this program whicr was devoted t o international cooperatior in science. The speakers, hence, \ver< chosen for their leadership in world sci entific affairs and because of their con tributions to such cooperation. In addi tion t o Shuster they were Marston Τ Bogert, president of t h e Internationa Union of Chemistry, and Ralph. H. Allée director of the Inter-American. Institut* of Agricultural Sciences.
Plea for World
Education
The subscription dinner which followex in the evening was a l s o t h e occasion fo' further discussion o f matters vital t< world cooperation i n science. Laurcno Duggan, director of t h e Institute of Inter national Education, was the scheduiec
CHEMI CAL AND
ENGINEERING NEW!
Meeting in Atlantic City
xing drew an attendance
of 875
speaker, a n d h e made a n eloquent pica for a world educational program. D r . N o y e s at the same time introduced Alex ander King, of the British Commonwealth Secretary's Office, w h o opened his in formal remarks by extending the greetings of Sir Robert Robinson, eminent British scientist a n d president of t h e Royal S o ciety. T h e speaker commended D r . N o y e s for his effort t o have science repre sented in U N E S C O and continued to say that international cooperation based upon harmony among scientists must continue if peace is t o remain. D r . King pointed o u t that although much of this scientific meeting ground has been in the fields of nutrition and agricul ture, the future will see it extended into civil aeronautics, scientific education, and public health a s well. T h e speaker con tended t h a t international rapport among scientists is essentially nothing new. "In the ten year period that preceded the recent war, over 1,000 international sci entific meetings were held." V O L U M E
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T h e latter half of Dr. King's address was concerned with a n explanation of the organization and functional set-ups of the
ACS Jr.,
Ρ resilient IP'. Albert at the subscription
IWoyes, dinner
various British Scientific Missions that functioned in this country during the war. I t soon became evident, he said, t h a t much more could be accomplished a n d with greater efficiency if t h e missions of the dominions were t o pool their efforts. In (his manner it w a s also possible, he claimed, t o maintain a staff having expertness in a large number of fields. An example of this coordinated service which J)r. King noted was the case in which an Australian expert in anti-malarials coun seled all of the various nations of the col lective mission who were interested in the subject.
Future
ACS
Meetings
One of the important issues now before the A C S membership concerns policies and procedures governing future meetings of the national SOCIETY. Many feel that the SOCIETY has grown t o such a n extent and that chemical science has spread over so many activities, not always related, that general meetings of the entire member ship are no longer practical. T h e numbers » APRIL
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Laurence Ditggan, president of the Institute of International Education; If'. A. Noyes, Jr.; and Alexnndor King, director of British Central Scientific attending general meetings also make it «difficult for the secretary's office to obtain adequate meeting and housing facilities which recently have confined the spring and fall gatherings to only large ci ries or where hotel and meeting space is ample. This was one of the matters discussed by the Council of the SOCIETY on April 12 and 13, the week end preceding the meeting week, and the subject was al»o taken up later at the meeting of the divisional officers. T w o plans were taken up by the latter, both of which call for spring meetings in four cities instead of one but continuing the fall meetings in one place. One plan was presented by L. L·. Quill of Michigan State College as the summary of findings by a committee proposed that the SOCIETY hold four meetings in four cities, each given over t*> a division such as organic, physical and inorganic, biological. Another proposal, a national sectionalized meeting, was put forward by λ I. II. Arveson of Chicago. This also called for a spring meeting in four cities, such as There was registration
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plenty {upper
Office; director Sciences;
M. T. Bogert, Columbia Univ.; R. H. Allée, of Inter-American Institute of Agricultural G. N. Sinister, president. Hunter College
Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, and San Francisco, but at which all sections would be represented. I t was further proposed that dual presentations of papers could be arranged. Something similar to this has actually been put into effect by the Phar maceutical Manufacturers Association, members remarked. Scientific papers this year were read simultaneously at Chicago and New York where the pharma ceutical interests held meetings. The smaller divisions voiced objection to the Arveson plan. It was felt that not enough papers could be furnished by these groups to meet the requirements of the sectionalizcd meeting. However, both proposals were considered to possess merit, and it was arranged that the Arveson and Quill groups should meet in the future to work out a tentative plan for presentation to the SOCIETY-.
The Council of the ACS extended its deliberations from Saturday morning until late that night and after adjourning close to midnight resumed its discussions on Sundav until the afternoon of that day.
of room m one end of the Convention Hall for both left) and the Employment Clearing House (foreground)
CHEMICAL
Attendance a t the Council meeting was 415, the largest on record. Thomas
at Alpha
Chi
Sigma
Charles A. Thomas, vice president of Monsanto Chemical Co. and president elect of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,
spoke at the Alpha Chi Sigma dinner at the Chelsea o n Tuesday evening. Discuss ing the peacetime applications of atomicenergy, Dr. Thomas pointed out that the design of knowledge resembles the growth of a jigsaw puzzle with different segments advancing at different rates. This is par ticularly true of the present stage in the development of atomic energy. For their work on the atomic bomb and for their work following and to follow on atomic energy, however, the chemist and the chemical engineer have not been accorded their proper roles, said Dr. Thomas. As to when results in this field may be expected, D r . Thomas stated that the first benefits are already here in the form of radioisotopes, which can be produced in enormous quantities. As compared with 270 stable isotopes, there are about 450 known radioisotopes of which over 50 arcbeing distributed for research purposes. While there is quite a supply of the more important radioisotopes, there is still a shortage of carbon 14, stated Dr. Thomas, who then discussed the potential uses of radioisotopes in such fields as the mecha nisms of organic reactions, polymeriza tion, surface coatings, textile lubricants, and unit operations in chemical engineer ing. Here is an opportunity for the American chemist and chemical engineer that exists nowhere else in t h e world, concluded Dr. Thomas. H e urged that we become a na tion trained in the use of atomic tools. Alpha Chi Sigma, sponsor of the S 1,000 Award in Pure Chemistry, honored an other well-known scientist in the field of nuclear physics at the meeting when it was announced b y Merle Griffin of the Shell Chemical Co. that the award this year would go to Glenn T. Seaborg, co-discov erer of plutonium. Seaborg, who rose from an instruct orship at the University of California to full professorship in six
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years, was awarded tin» prize for his lead ership in the field of nuclear chemistry and his direction of the research program lead ing to the discovery and isolation of plu tonium, and of americium (95) and curium (96). The award will be presented at the fall meeting of the SOCIETY in New York. Priestley
At dial
to
Lewis
The award of many other honors was announced during the meeting. The highest honor in American chemistry, the Priestley Medal, was bestowed upon Warren K. Lewis, a member of the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In making this announcement, President Noyes, at the general assembly, also presented the names of other scientists who had been awarded the year's honors for distinguished contributions. To Mary Lura Sherrill, head of 'the department of chemistry, Mount Holyoke College, went the Garvan Medal bestowed each year on the woman chemist who has made the greatest scientific contribution. Prof. Sherrill obtained the Garvan Medal for achievements both in research and teach ing. The Paul-Lewis Laboratories Award in Enzyme Chemistry will be received by Van R. Potter, associate» professor in the department of cancer research, University of Wisconsin Medical School. George C. Supplée, president of the G. C. Supplée Research Corp., Bainbridgc, Ν. Υ., was awarded the Borden Prize in the Chemistry of Milk. The winner of the 1947 Eli Lilly & Co. Award in Biological Chemistry is Sidney P. Colowick, of the division of nutrition and physiology, Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York. Dr. Noyes, a t the same general meeting, then presented diplomas certifying 50 years of continuous membership in the ACS to 10 members. The diplomas, lie said were "tokens of esteem" and added that his father, also a distinguished chem ist, would have been glad to have pre sented them. The 50-year members were Jerome Alexander, Duncan Anderson, W. L. Hardin, Everett B. Hurlburt, A . J. Marschall, Henry G. Martin, Benjamin M. Pilhashy, F. Warren Smith, Warren Rufus Smith, and Willis R. Whitney. international
Union
"Rebuilding and Advance of the Inter national Union of Chemistry" was the topic of Dr. Bogert's ad dress at this meeting. Dr. Bogert, whose discussion will be published in an early issue
of
PresUIcnVs advisory committee L. At. Henderson* R, Π. Levin9
on Hancock Report: / . II. Yoe, 1VI. if. E. C. Iiritton, J. C. Wart\er9 arut W, J,
between the Union and UNESCO will be a major subject at the deliberations of the 14th conference of Il T C in London July 21-24. One scientific problem to which the Union has fallen'heir, the continuance of scientific compendia, has resulted from the removal of Germany from the scien tific and industrial scene. Dr. Bogert announced the creation of a new Inter national Commission on Encyclopedic Chemical Compendia, which is under the chairmanship of Carl S. Marvel of the University of Illinois and former president of the AMERICAN7 CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
A separate international commission has also been set up on codification, nota tion, punched cards and related problems. Dr. Bogert also discussed recent additions which have been made to the atomic table and in this connection discussed the names of several recently discovered elements. Completion of the 13th report of the International Commission on Atomic Weights was announced by Dr. Bogert. Immediate publication of this report has been authorized officially in the United States, England, and France. False World
Planning
Mr. Allée in the course of his address said that it was up to the scientist to get rid of dangerous idealists in the world, Award Lewis9
Arveson9 Sparks
and that with increasing international conflict threatened by what he called widespread social maladjustments, false politico-social schemes for world order are certain to be put forward. I n the last analysis, the speaker declared, the satisfaction of human needs and aspirations, will depend upon t h e use of science and scientific thinking. "The war which has just been won," Alice continued, "but which is not y e t over, must be thought of as a n event in a much broader state of social inter-reaction. Outbursts of military action are only incidental symptoms of social maladjustments. Such terms as 'economic defense* and 'psychological warfare' recognize t h e fundamental issues in the increasing international conflict. The situation is by n o means simple of definition, b u t we must strive to convert that which seems to b e an insurmountable complexity into problems to which human ingenuity can b e applied." The real purpose of U N E S C O was discussed by Dr. Shuster i n his address. If you glance at its constitution, its organization, and its announced projects, he said, you will get some idea of how colossal a n undertaking it is. Just because its work is so vjist in scope and s o new, it can be defined only with the greatest difficulty. It is not to be a sort of peace squad equipped with radio cars, ready to step
winners announced: Sidney P. Colo wick, Warren. K~ Van R. Potter, Mary Lura Sherrill, and George C Supplée
CHEMICAL AND
ENGINEERING
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said
that 21 nations, including Russia, are cooperating in the rapid revival of a larger and more inclusive IUC, whose activities had to be suspended during World War II. Closer relations
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Walter J. Murphy, editor of C&EN and director of the ACS News Service, discuss briefly the expansion of the news service and the opportunity it offers to the local sections. Another matter discussed related to incentive plans for increasing local sect ion activities. The Students* breakfast was attended by students as well as a large number of faculty members and friends. They were addressed briefly and somewhat informally by Gust-av Egloff, chairman of the Division of Petroleum Chemistry. Jahn
President consultant,
Noyes presents 50-year certificates to Jerome Alexander? IVeiv York, and W. L. Hardin, emeritus member of ACS
in and preach a war out of existence at the crucial moment. It is rather, as yet, only a partly mapped out plan for so accustoming the peoples of the world to common effort in the sharing of ideas, and of experience with the changing fate of ideas, that risk of sudden volcanic eruptions will be greatly reduced. " U N E S CO," he concluded, "deserves your interest and support." Dr. Duggan, speaking at the subscription dinner, warned that this may be the world's last chance to make peace "stick", and he urged the support of a broad program to stimulate international cooperation through the exchange of scholars and specialists in many fields. He felt that such cultural exchanges offer the best available means for achieving the degree of tolerance among nations which is essential for lasting security. He discerned a growing conviction in the public mind that the problem of permanent peace can no longer be» left to governments alone. In fact, one of the basic problems of the times, he said, is to determine how efforts at international understanding can be so directed that they will prevent actions at the highest government levels which lead to war. Group
Events
These were highlights of the Atlantic City meeting but by no means the only activities which engaged the attention of chemists and other visitors. The program sparkled with breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners, most of them staged in the atmosphere of informality by university groups, but also by such newer segments as the W P B Chemicals Bureau, the Chemical Warfare Association, and the former workers in the " S A M " wartime project at Columbia University. As for the women chemists, they were, in the words of President Noyes, "last only by alphabetical arrangement". They had a special luncheon and entertainment in the Tray more, the headquarters hotel, addressed by Mrs. Edward M. Jones of the Friends General Conference who spoke
1176
on "An Evaluation of the United N a tions". The Women Chemists' Group also staged a luncheon at the Hotel Claridge when they heard H o y lande E>. Young of the Argonne National Laboratory discuss the applications and control of atomic energy. The usual retreat for women guests and chemists also was set up in the Fountain Room of t h e Traymore. Some 53 local sections officers and representatives turned out for t h e Local Section Officers' breakfast and to hear
The* t €avei* · · ,·
Sidney P. Colnwick The announcement, of Sidney P . Colowick, research associate i n t h e division of nutrition ancl· physiology, Public Health Research Institute of t h e City of New York, as 1947 winner of the Eli Lilly and Co. Award i n B i o logical Chemistry was made at t h e Atlantic City meeting of the ACS. Thé award will b e presented at the S o - CIETX'S fall meeting in ~Ne\v "York. Born in 1916 and taking his education at Washington University, St. Louis, with the degrees, B.S.Gh.Ii., 1936, M . S . in biochemistry, 1939, and P h . D . , 1942, Dr. Colowick has devoted his attention to the enzymatic phosphorylation of glycogen and of glucose in animal tissues. He was able to convert glucose; to glycogen in vitro, b y means of purified enzymes and to elucidate each of the enzymatic steps involved. He established dihydrocozymase arid guanine as necessary components of t h e hexokinase system. His work on t h e reaction .converting ribonucleic acid in the presence of inorganic phosphate to nucleic acid ribose-Ê-phosphate, which he showed to be reversible, opened the., way for study of- the medi&nism of - enzymatic synthesis of nucleic aeîds.
on Scanilana
via
About 50 graduates of Canadian Universities, most of whom had moved to the United States since their graduation, m e t for a luncheon on Wednesday t o compare personal histories and to hear about the current technical* activities of their respective alma maters. Following the lunch, Edwin C. .Jahn of the New York S t a t e College of Forestry at Syracuse c o m mented upon conditions in the Scandanavian countries as observed on a recent trip through that part of Europe. Dr. Jahn reported that wartime-neutral Sweden was undoubtedly in the best economic condition of any European country. H e observed a very high standard of living there and no shortages other than in fuel with prices at least no higher than in the United States. Greatly decreased imports in oil and coal have reduced the Swedes to almost total reliance on forest products for heat and power. 'Since the Swedish government had long ago restricted the lumber industry to cutting on a sustained yield basis, paper and pulp production has been greatly curtailed in favor of the more essential power producing uses for timber. Throughout the Scandinavian penninsula, pulp and paper mills are operating at from 40 to 6 0 % capacity, according to Dr. Jahn. However, in spite of curtailed production, the research laboratories of the various Swedish pulp and paper institutes are continuing to produce excellent research results. Although Norway's economy is badly dislocated due to the extended German occupation, Dr. Jahn revealed that Finland is by far the most impoverished by its wartime experience. The speaker said that conditions in this country are much worse than at the time of his last visit in 1943. T h e only durable goods available for general purchase are those manufactured from wood and paper. The Finns are living on their prewar supplies of other durable goods, according to Dr. Jahn. In closing his talk, the speaker said that throughout the three countries he o b served a sustained friendship for things American and expressed the belief that among the nations of Europe these countries are the most sympathetic to the United States. Chemical
Research
Conferences
T h e management and advisory industry
CHEMICAL
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p^^rjppsiPi^
Alpha Chi Sigma dinner. C. / . Krister, Du Pont Co.; Merle Griffin9 Shell Chemical Corp.; G. T. Seaborg, Univ. of Calif .9 ACSa*mr
