from boston — an acs spectacular
TRANSCRIPT
the newsmagazine of the chemical world VOLUME 37, NUMBER 15 I APRIL 13, 1959
From Boston - An ACS Spectacular Chemistry takes over in Boston as 135th ACS National Meeting gets under way; registration soars to unlooked for levels
EARLY BIRDS. T h e cabbies were happy Sunday afternoon and evening as meeting-goers s t reamed into Beantown in unexpectedly large (for a spring meeting) numbers . H e r e , early registrants get paperwork out of the way before the rush
OTAiD old Boston? Not last week. The hum of a busy city rose to a roar as more than 8000 chemists and chemical engineers from all parts of the U. S. and many foreign countries converged on history-steeped Boston. Discussion of atoms and molecules vied successfully for attention with the doings of the Boston Celtics basketball team and the Boston Bruins hockey club. The occasion: the 135th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Kicking off the week-long conclave to a flying start was Walter G. Whitman, head of the department of chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Whitman told a jam-packed general meeting that chemists and chemical engineers must strive as individuals to further the cause of world peace.
Other high lights of an event-packed opening day saw:
• Seventeen leaders in various fields of science and technology receive awards for outstanding achievement; among them was the Priestley Medal— highest honor in American chemistry— to Hermann I. Schlesinger for pioneering research on boron hydrides.
• More than seventy chemists and chemical engineers—including three past presidents of the ACS—receive honors for 50 years membership in ACS.
• Forty-seven ACS local sections receive praise for exceeding their goals in the $3 million building fund drive. Capping the general meeting was announcement that John E . Baldwin, a senior at Dartmouth College, has been selected by Roger Adams to receive the 1959 Charles Lathrop Parsons Scholarship. Adams, winner of the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award, picks the student to receive the scholarship.
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CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING
NEWS
The talh· as the opening days of the meeting drew to a dose : More than 1400 reports, sponsored by some 20 scientific and technical divisions of ACS, were scheduled to b e heard; plans for countless committee and council meetings were finalized; thousands of chemists and chemical engineers made plans to view excerpts of a complete hiuii school chemistry course on film;
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ai ici more man -*v/u ut-opic icg^itivu with the Employment Clearing House to offer their talents to more than 600 employers seeking to upgrade their technical starts.
Dig surprise in Λ week spotted with surprises was the siyie of the registration—every clay brought big batches of new registrants. The rush was such that a shortage of registration cards and programs loomed. At mid-week, the daily registrations were still breaking the three figure mark, a pace that promised a possible record turnout for a spring meeting. The record—8391 — at the spring meeting Chicago 1948.
• Toward World Peace. Chemists and chemical engineers have special responsibilities to develop personal understandings with people of the Soviet Union, says Whitman. Whitman sees personal contacts with scientists from the East as the best path to establishing confidence and easing world tensions.
Today's "balance of terror," based on the destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons, is inherently unstable, Whitman warns. The atomic* monopoly held by the XJ. S.. Britain, and the Soviets will soon be broken, with perhaps 15 nations possessing the A-bomb within 12 years a possibility. Result: growing antagonisms and further degeneration of world security.
ignorance and lack of understanding are the main sources of world fears and tensions today, declares Whitman. He calls for creation of bonds of understanding and confidence to dispel the threat of mutual suicide. Personal relationships with individual chemists and chemical engineers of the eastern nations are the key here, Whitman feels.
Whitman's personal experiences while a United Nations officiai preparing the Atoms-for-Peaee Conference at Geneva in 1955 were recounted as examples of what can be done. The Soviet attitude changed to one of helpful cooperation, says Whitman, when frankness replaced suspicion and when a group of young, scientists recruited from over a dozen countries dedicated themselves to overcoming obstacles
CONTRIBUTION. Walter G. Whitman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology gives ACS general meeting (at the John Hancock Building) his ideas on "Our Potential Contribution to World Security." Behind Whitman are award winners and sponsors and new 50-year members who attended week's program at Boston
NEWS HOUNDS. The working press, both local and national, covered the meeting like the proverbial blanket. Alton L. Blakeslee (left) , Associated Press science writer and 1959 James T. Grady Awardee, ponders his lead, as the Washington Post's Nate Hazeltine (right) pecks away at his third paragraph
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TEA? Among hostesses at Boston Tea Party were wives of noted ACS members: Mrs. John C. Baiiar, Jr. ( left) , president's wife; Mrs. Wallace R. Brode (center), board member's wife; Mrs. Clifford F. Rassweiler, wife of immediate past president
MEDALIST. ACS President John C. Baiiar, Jr., towers over towering chemist Hermann 1. hchiesinger, to whom he has just presented the Priestley Medal. Schles-inger was a pioneer worker in the chemistry of boron
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th**v taeed. Personal friendships established then ha\ e been maintained, and each has had a "catalytic influence*' on others in the various countries. Whitman believes.
Today's cultural exchange programs between the l \ S. and the Soviet Union arc hindered by official procedures and delays, Whitman says. He cautions those who \\ isu to estaodsh personal contacts with colleagues from the East to he prepared for frustrations. Further, warns Whitman, suspicion and cynicism have no place in such relationships. Hather, a sincere interest in learning from each other is the best approach. But such a positive force in a "welter of negatives" may touch off "chain reactions in the thinking of whole peoples/ ' Whitman declares.
• Inform Them. Scientists also heard an expert's \ iews on communication. Alton L. Blakeslee, Associated Press science writer and 19">9 winner of the James T. (irady Award for outstanding reporting of chemistry and related subjects told an ACS News Service luncheon group that the public is interested and should be informed about science. The business ol "telling" the public about science depends on the delicate art of human communication and transmission of ideas, Blakeslee points out. Sometimes scientists and even science writers show a talent for suppressing ideas. Some pitfalls:
• Failure to tell the story in simple language. Technical words are all right but only if you define them immediately, warns Blakeslee. Best approach, is to choose words most people can understand.
• Complex sentence structure. Readers anci listeners win icave you witii astonishing speed, Blakeslee points out. So don't hide the nugget of meaningful knowledge in a cocoon of tortuous sentence structure; don't start a story with the most boring part, he cautions.
Don't take your audience for granted, admonishes Blakeslee. Assuming that everyone has your background in science is a mistake; feeling that people lacking such background aren't worth talking to is snobbery. Still, many scientists and other specialists are guilty on these counts. The American publ ic is intelligent, declares Blakeslee; millions are eager to know about scientific events and their meaning.
He calls for tolerance on tiie part of the scientist as an aid in sharing specialized knowledge with the public.
Your Key to What's New
Chemical industry learns to get along with overcapacity 32
Depression and tranquility may depend on a coenzyme—DPN 41
Pain killing promise lies in two new types of chemicals 42
Mercury poisoning bypasses rats who take new tablet orally 43
Unique, long chain fatty acid produced from cape marigold seeds 43
New stereochemistry could mean big things for silicones 44
Powerful reducing agent, BiF5, results from new synthesis 44
It's the surface area that does the job in U 0 3
reduction 45
Redox reaction rates come from electron transfer theory 46
Oxidation widens field for partially car-boxymethylated cotton 47
Ion exchanae nulls vanadium out of western phosphate rock 49
rurex tission promuei séparai ion process loses one cycle 50
Elaborate system will purify water for new nuclear plant 51
Cobalt chloride catalyst speeds sulfite waste oxidation 53
Polyphenyl ether lubes fight heat, radiation. oxidation 64
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