PREFACE This volume contains a series of brief articles on the beneficial applications that may now be anticipated from the development of the release of atomic energy. From the articles themselves, it will be clear that these applications are in their earliest beginnings, and that what can be done today is little more than to give a sketch of the avenues of approach that now appear hopeful. These are two: (1) the use of radiations, radioactivities and, more generally, tracers, for research, for technology and for medicine; and (2) the development of power from sources of atomic energy. In the former fields, the last decade has afforded some experience, much of which is described in this and the previous volume, to indicate the great wealth that may lie ahead; enough is known, not surely to predict the findings and applications of the future, but to make it certain that mankind will benefit from a free and vigorous development. It may be that in the next decades the development of sources of atomic power may have even greater effects for civilization, in making power abundantly available where it has not been so before. Whether this will be true or not can certainly not be determined before much more is known of the technology and economy of atomic power plants. But present knowledge would appear to warrant an intensive effort, without undue delay, to answer these questions and to apply the answers with imagination and with an understanding of human as well as of technical requirements. The terms of reference of the Atomic Energy Commission have a dual nature. On the one hand the Commission has been directed to make proposals "for control of atomic energy to the extent necessary to insure its use only for peaceful purposes;" on the other hand it is to make proposals "for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons Because of this dual nature, two points require special emphasis. The first point is that the unrestricted and vigorous exploitation of the peaceful applications of atomic energy, particularly for the generation of power, creates a vast reservoir of materials and techniques susceptible, with a relatively moderate effort, to diversion for atomic armament. Atomic energy cannot be developed for peaceful purposes without installations and activities potentially most dangerous to the security of the world. 718674-46 77 The second point that here needs to be made follows in part from the first. It is the heart of the United States proposal for the control of atomic energy that, in any effective system of control, the two elements of the problem, the development of the peaceful uses and the prevention of destructive uses, must be inseparable and must be entrusted to the same agency. Many of the arguments that have led to the adoption of this position are summarized in the State Department's report on the international control of atomic energy; these arguments need to be further studied and discussed. It is clear that for such discussion an enlightened evaluation will be necessary of what the peaceful applications of atomic energy may amount to. It is to facilitate that evaluation that this collection of articles has been prepared. J. R. OPPENHEIMER Member of Scientific Panel 1. Future of Atomic Energy By Arthur H. Compton Former Director of Metallurgical Project of Manhattan District, Chancellor of Washington University Zay Jeffries Former Consultant to Metallurgical Project of Manhattan District This is a survey of the wealth of suggestions which have been made on possible applications of atomic energy for peaceful uses. Many of these are speculative and it is not to be expected that all will be put into practice. Nevertheless, it is believed that this group of suggestions, including the most speculative ones, does give a correct impression of the type of development which is in store. Physics Since the basic science involved in atomic energy is largely a branch of physics, we may expect the science of physics to be given great encouragement in the coming period. The new possibilities for producing high-energy gamma rays, fast and slow neutron beams, and also alpha, beta, and other rays, in intensities vastly greater than ever before, will of necessity aid in the solution of the basic unsolved problems of modern physics-the structure of matter and the nature of radiation. It may also be feasible to study the properties of matter under immensely high temperature conditions, somewhat resembling those in the stars. Of especial importance is the use of uranium fission as a source of neutrons. Neutrons in turn are useful for transmuting atoms from one isotope into another and for a variety of scientific tasks. One of the most interesting applications is the use of the diffraction of neutrons by crystals as a means of extending our knowledge of crystal structures. Previous to the fission chain reaction, the most abundant source of neutrons was the cyclotron. It is now possible to make a chain-react |