The Practical Value of Pure Science

The Practical Value of Pure Science By Dr. Carl F. Eyring, Professor of Physics and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Brigham Young University A FEW years ago I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Robert A. Millikan on the fascinating problem of pulling electrons, the corpuscles of electricity, out of a fine tungsten wire by means of strong electrical fields. So close were we to the unknown, so much were we pioneers in the field, that the experiment was truly an adventure. Danger lurked in high-voltage generators. Apparatus, which had taken months to prepare, demanded such care of manipulation that scouts on the frontier were never more wary. After painstaking effort and many weeks of searching after the truth, the door to the great unknown opened slightly, and we felt the warming influence of a new light. A scientific fact had been born. To a scientist this is romance. "But what is the use of this pulling out of electrons?" a friend asked. "Why not spend your time on a problem that is more practical?" Was it possible that I had wasted more than a year's time chasing a will-o-the wisp? Surely pure science has a value, and assuredly the researcher, motivated simply by the love for truth, is not a fool. No touchstone has been given man by which he may at once determine the usefulness of his discovery. Often the practical value is slow to appear; sometimes it does not appear till the next genera- tion. Frequently a single discovery can have no practical value till combined with other findings, and yet in the chain of discoveries it may be an indispensable link. One hundred and ten years ago the Danish physicist Oersted discovered that an electric current produces a magnetic effect. He held a wire, connected to a battery, near and parallel to a magnetic needle. The needle was deflected. Never before had a relation between electricity and magnetism been detected. If this single scien- tific fact were transferred back into the great unknown we would have to surrender the electric motor, the telephone, the telegraph, the radio and the submarine cable. Horse cars would return to cities; steam power, with its accompanying forests of whirling belts and shafts, would again enter the factories; and the post would become the only means of communication. Ninety-eight years ago Michael Faraday discovered that a pulsating electric current in one wire will generate a current in a

May. 1929 PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENCE 571 nearby wire. He also demonstrated that a magnet thrust into a coil will generate a current. He made public exhibitions of his discovery, and on one occasion a statesman asked him, "Of what use is your discovery?" Faraday replied, "Some day it may be developed so that you can tax it." On another occasion a lady asked, "But what is the use of it all?" He replied, "Madam, will you tell me the use of a new-born child?" Faraday sensed the importance of his discovery, for he was the first to build a dynamo; yet when he made these answers he certainly did not realize that one hundred years later the infant would be grown-up and be worth more than twenty-five billion dollars. More than one hundred years ago Sir Humphry Davy dis- covered that an intense light could be produced by heating a platinum wire to incandescence by means of an electric current. Fifty years ago Edison made a commercially successful carbon filament electric lamp. Today nearly one hundred million dollars are spent in the United States for incandescent lamps. At the beginning of the last century Thomas Young first dem- onstrated the interference of light waves. Strange as it may seem, this discovery and the technique established by Michelson in his study of this phenomenon helped win the war, and it has since aided greatly in the American method of mass production. Three different companies were engaged in making U. S. Army rifles. The inter- changeability of parts was a very important specification. It was found that the rifles manufactured by any one company, when taken apart, could be reassembled with ease even with a promiscuous selec- tion of parts. However, if rifles from the three manufacturers were dismantled and the parts mixed, the lack of exact similarity of size made interchangeability impossible. This meant that the inch did not have the same length in the three factories. By making use of the interference of light, the United States Bureau of Standards worked out a method of standardizing the measuring instruments of the rifle manufacturers so that complete interchangeability was established. Using this same method, instrument manufacturers are now making blocks or gages which are accurate to the mil- lionth of an inch.. It is easy to overlook the fact that a scientific principle, discovered more than a hundred years ago by a physicist motivated only by the lure of the unknown, is now helping to put the great American system of interchangeable manufacture on a sound basis. Many more examples could be presented to show that scientific facts discovered in the humble quest for truth in later years have been woven into the vast industrial fabric of our civilization. New- born facts of science, often unappreciated, many times at maturity

572 IMPROVEMENT ERA May. >929 have brought comfort, freedom, and wealth to a once uninterested world. From the days of Galileo to the present, physicists have not only been accumulating scientific facts, but they have been building the theories, laws and principles of physics. A study and classi- fication of scientific facts leads to the recognition of relationships or uniformities. An original and fertile mind" sees the possibility of building a coordinating principle that will correlate the observed data and give impetus to new investigations. A preliminary guess is made as the first step in building a scientific law or principle, but the scientific method demands that this first conclusion, reached through logical and intuitive processes, be checked and rechecked by further experimentation. It is this cycle of experiment, followed by logic, followed by experiment, again followed by logic, etc.. etc., that characterizes the scientific method more than anything else. By this cyclic procedure the scientific law or principle develops through the following steps: (a) ignorance, (b) preliminary guess, (c) hypothesis, (d) theory, (e) law or principle. The scientific attitude of mind, characterized by a willingness to abide by the facts and by an eagerness to see new relations, grows in the development of a new principle through these steps: (a) unbelief, (b) desire to believe, (c) belief, (d) faith, (e) knowledge. Many so-called principles and elements of knowledge change back to hypotheses and beliefs to be readjusted and even rejected, as the store of scientific facts increases. Thus hypotheses and theories, unlike scientific facts, are changing things, and are important in so far as they are useful in helping to interpret the facts in a simple, complete, and suggestive manner. It is this flexibility of hypotheses and theories that insures growth; this type of change gives strength to science, not weakness. The scientific method has helped man to discover that the hap- penings of nature are dependable and rather simple of explanation. He finds he is not at the mercy of hobgoblins, spirits, or witches, but can, with intelligent cooperation, become the master, to a surprising extent, of the forces of nature. He is led to believe that the phenomena of nature have their explanation in natural, dependable laws which may be formulated after a patient, open-minded, honest search after the truth. Yet, sometimes, so-called inventors, because of the lack of a knowledge of the scientific principles involved in their work, lose a great deal of time and money in making useless experiments or in trying to develop ideas which violate the laws of science. It is said that the great George Westinghouse, inventor of the air brake and founder of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company,

May. i9Z9 PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENCE 573 spent a large amount of money and time on a rotary steam engine which he never would have considered had his knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics been more complete. At that time he did not realize that he was expecting the impossible. Often we find inventors who think that some change in mechanism can produce a large increase in the power of a heat engine. Some do not see clearly that there is a difference between an increase in mechanical advantage and an increase in efficiency. With this confusion in their minds they lead financial supporters to wrong conclusions. An elementary knowledge of thermodynamics would help them to think clearly. They would know that there is a thermodynamic efficiency controlled by the difference in temperature between the intake and the exhaust steam which can never be ex- ceeded, but only approached. They would know that a mechanism can not change nature's demand of an offering in kind when work is obtained from heat. A few years ago a prominent inventor announced that he had produced a device which would permit a very long-range firing of guns without a recoil mechanism. He was to burn the powder in- stead of exploding it. For one not schooled in the law of the conservation of momentum, his scheme might look feasible, but a student of Newtonian mechanics would at once predict failure and stop the foolish expenditure of money and time. The large manufacturers are coming more and more to see the folly of working blindly. They are establishing research de- partments, and instead of completely ignoring the principles of science, they are acting in accordance with them. The real investi- gator searches the literature to find what others have done, he analyzes the problem, taking great care to see clearly the underlying theories and principles of science. If more research work must be done he is now in the position to act wisely and efficiently. One example of this method will suffice. Many machine parts are so complicated in shape that it is very difficult to calculate the internal forces and thus make the correct design. The investigator searches the literature. He finds that strains in glass can be detected by the use of polarized light. On further search he discovers that glass and celluloid, even though free from strains normally, show by the action of polarized light the strains that appear due to the application of outside forces. This leads at once to the conclusion that full-sized celluloid models, placed under the proper force con- ditions and analyzed with polarized light, will reveal the stresses in the machine part. From all this it is clear that our knowledge of the natural laws must increase. If the springs of pure science dry up, the time will

574 IMPROVEMENT ERA May, 1929 come when the industries cannot properly advance. We must realize clearly that the pioneer scientist of one generation is preparing the way for the technician of the next. The universities of the land must not fail to foster an ever expanding frontier of pure science. They must train young men and women in the methods of science and its principles in order that this information may prop- erly be carried into the work of the world and there contribute to the human welfare. May it be said of the statesmen of this generation that their foresight led them so to endow the research laboratories of the land that the fountain of pure science gushed forth with perennial water. May it be said of the great minds of this generation that they zeal- ously pioneered the land of the unknown, carrying a banner with this inscription, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." A Tribute to Handel The first performance of the Messiah took place in the Neale's Music Hall in Dublin, April 18, 1742, at midday, and, apropos of the absurdities of fashion, it may be noted that the announcements contained the following re- quest: "Ladies who honor this performance with their presence will be pleased to come without hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more company." The work was gloriously successful, and over 400 pounds sterling were obtained the first day for the Dublin charities. Handel seems always to have had a special feeling with regard to this masterpiece of his — as if it were too sacred to be merely used for making money, like his other works. In this con- nection a fine saying of his may be repeated. Lord Kinnoul had complimented him on the noble "entertainment" which by the Messiah he had lately given the town. "My lord," said Handel, "I should be sorry if I only entertained them — I wish to make them better." And when someone questioned him on his feelings when composing the Hallelujah Chorus, he replied in his peculiar English, "I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself." What a fine saying that was of poor old George III, in describing the Pastoral Symphony in this oratorio — "I could see the stars shining through it!" The now constant custom of the audience to rise and remain standing during the performance of this chorus, is said to have originated in the follow- ing manner: On the first production of the work in London, the audience were exceedingly generous; and when that chorus struck up, "For the Lord God Omnipotent" in the "Hallelujah," they were so transported that they all to- gether, with the king (who happened to be present) , started up and remained standing until the chorus ended. This anecdote I had from Lord Kinnoul — Dr. James Beattie.