Whither $511 HE wheel has spun another turn. There is more gray on some T h e a d s , greater sureness and understanding in some minds. Most of us started the year intent on plans, ambitions, and interests close to our careers, our families, or ourselves. Before it was half through we were sharply jerked back to the unsolved riddle of survival on a shrinking planet. If we seek the one outstanding event of A.D. 1950, perhaps it is the widespread acknowledgment that living a t peace with our neighbor is an issue whose pertinence goes considerably beyond the pulpit and the editorial page, The year was hardly one of static stability. The ferment of growth was evident everywhere in our own field of chemistry. And its consequences were perceived as perhaps never before by those outside the field itself. Time after time, through newspapers, magazines, and the swift media of radio and television, the whole of contemporary society was told of the multiplication of chemical accomplishment and its cumulative impact on our age. I n 1950 the chemical and process industries were reported to take the No. 1 position among the nation’s great industries. Some measure of the development can be grasped from the Facts and Figures feature in our June 1950 issue. Consequgnces of this continued growth will be felt also in the AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY. future issues of INDUSTRIAL After remaining a t a plateau level for two years, the number of good technical papers offered for publication once more has begun to increase. By conservative estimate 20 per cent more pages will be needed next year to accommodate the enlarged flow of contributions. This continual increase in information that vitally affects his work no doubt is viewed as a mixed blessing by the industrial chemist and chemical engineer, hard-pressed as he is to retain a firm hold on his expanding science, Little can be done a t the root of the problem except shut one’s eyes to it. However, the editor can help through improvements in correlation, arrangement, and presentation. I n addition to such established efforts as our annual reviews on Unit Operations, Unit Processes, and Materials of Construction, we hope to make some further constructive advances next year. Strong efforts will be made to strengthen the interpretive character of the synopses preceding individual papers. The objective of the work will be stated where feasible. The essence of the experimental approach will be sketched, and the salient results then given. Finally, the significance and the industrial utility of the findings will be discussed. Synopses of the nature we visualize should‘be a substantial help to the reader who must locate and rapidly assimilate the gist of many technical papers. We hope this special emphasis will materially enhance the utility of the magazine as a work-book for the professionally competent chemist and chemical engineer. We plan to rearrange the issue so that the reader with definite interests can more readily locate certain types of papers. ‘Phis will be done by expanding and broadening the scope of the present Pilot Plant feature into a aection tentatively titled
“Engineering and Process Development.” Into this section will go the numerous papers on unit operations research, integrated process studies, and studies in engineering scale equipment. For the present a t least, we plan to retain, within that section, a special monthly pilot plant article, to encourage submission of meritorious contributions on the mechanical aspects of chemical process development. I&EC Reports on the Chemical World Today, one of the bestread special features of the magazine, will be expanded to 5 pages and become the nucleus of a specially featured section in the advertising pages immediately following the ConFnts page, The Headlines feature will be brought forward to start this new section, making this important r6sum6 of the previous month’s events the f i s t editorial matter the reader will meet. Special innovations in the Reports section, tested in 1950, have been incorporated permanently. The January section will give a roundup of industrial chemical developments throughout the U. S. in 1950, and the issues following the spring and fall naSOCIETYwill consist tional meetings of the AMERICANCHEMICAL of short “Reportlets” describing the outstanding papers and symposia. Many features and symposia will highlight the individual issues. The February through June numbers will carry a serial 75-year history of American chemical science and industry, and the contributions made to them through activities of the divisions SOCIETY.The August and December of the AMERICANCHEMICAL issues will carry the f i s t two of a series of substantially statistical symposia-Resources for the Chemical Industry-featuring respectively the Southwest and the Far West. This series, conceived to run indefinitely with an approximate 6- to 7-year cycle, is intended to provide a “perpetual inventory” of data currently important to technical management and those concerned with such matters as plant location. Symposia and major reviews definitely .scheduled for publication in 1951 are given below. Besides those listed, others will, as in the past, be added on the basis of review following their presentation a t meetings.
JANUARYSixth Annual Unit Operations Review FEBRUARY International Rubber Symposium MARCH Sugar Juice Purification Symposium APRIL “Information Please” Symposium MAY Ion Exchange Applications Symposium JUNE Aerosols Symposium (Christmas Symposium) JULY Radioactive Wastes Symposium SEPTEMBERFourth Annual Unit Processes Review OCTOBER Fifth Annual Materials of Construction Review (with tabular supplement) NOVEMBERIndustria] Oxygen and Its Uses Symposium DECEMBER Process Control and Instrumentation Symposium The year 1951 may not be a restful one, but it, should offer much food for thought and study, and unlimited opportunities for progress.
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