Space Science: The Doughnut 3 and the Hole -MORTON F. KAPLON Preview Cosmic Ray Research ... Space-atmospheric, planetary, galac­ tic, and extra-galactic-has become a The Wild Blue Yonder major field of exploration and educa­ tion at Rochester. In 1962 the Uni­ versity established the Space Science Center, one of the country's first multi-disciplinary units for space research and training. Its Life at the Top purpose: to bring together and further develop the space­ 7 related activities already under way in many departments and, hopefully, to initiate new ones. Directed for its first four years by Wallace O. Fenn, Distinguished University Professor of Physiology, and since September by Professor At Home and Abroad Robert G. Loewy (whose appointment is reported on Page 10 23), the Center now coordinates space-oriented programs in with the Wolf Trap biology, medicine, physics, astronomy, engineering, optics, geology, and psychology. This fall construction will start on a Space Science Building, the first unit in the new River Is There Campus science complex. Intelligent Extra­ The precise domain of what is popularly termed "space 12 science" is difficult to define, as Professor Morton Kaplon Terrestrial Life? points out in his article on the opposite page. That this do­ -LEWIS w. BECK main covers a considerable amount of territory-intellectual as well as intergalactic-is indicated both by the sampling of UR space projects depicted on Pages 4 through 11 and by the speculations of philosopher Lewis W. Beck in the article Classnotes that starts on Page 12. Interestingly, a number of UR alumni already have be­ come heavily involved in space-science endeavors-among them Leo D. Welch, '19, who was the first board chairman Campus Dialogue: of Communications Satellite Corp., and scientist-astronaut The Changing Face Edward D. Gibson, '59, one of the first six men chosen by 15 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for fu­ of the Campus ture moon-flights. A nd this roster is certain to grow-in part, at least, because of the existence of the Space Science Center itself, under whose sponsorship 30 graduate students are currently taking advanced training. The University Obviously, the number and variety of space-related ac­ 23 tivities on campus merits a far more extensive report than can be encompassed in the Review's special section; how­ ever, it is hoped that the pages that follow will provide at least a brief introduction to one of the newest and liveliest interdisciplinary units on campus. The editor wishes to thank Miss Elsa Rubin of the Office 26 of Public Relations, who served as contributing editor for this special section. * ** Space of another and distinctly terrestrial kind continues to command its share of attention at Rochester these days, as ROCHESTER REVIEW, VOLUME XXIX, NUMBER 1, Fall, 1966. Editor-Judith E. Brown; Art the University sets in motion its long-term plans for adding Director-Robert S. Topor; Production Manager-Barbara B. Ames; Classnotes Editor­ some $80 million in new facilities over the next ten to fifteen Patricia Coppini; Publications Committee of the Alumni Federation: Robert W. Maher, '37, chairman; Dr. Norman J. Ashenburg, '38, '40GM, '51M (ex officio); John C. Braund, years. Some ideas on that subject are bandied about in a '53, '6IG (ex officio); Allen M. Brewer, '40; Dorothy B. Champney, '31, '41G; Diane four-way dialogue, The Changing Face of the Campus, that Morrell Jenkins, '58; Doris J. lamoree, '20. Published by the University of Rochester four times a year in Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, and mailed without charge to all begins on Page I5.-J.B. alumni. Editorial office: 107 Administration Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. 14627. Second class postage paid at Rochester, N. Y. ILLUSTRATION CREDITS: Associated Press, Dale Buckendahl, Linn Duncan, Don Eddy, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, C. R. Weston. ROBERT G. LOEWY ~\)Ol1~~ Space Professor Morton F. Kaplon, '5iG ~ rt Chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Associate Director of Science.· ~Q' the~# the Space Science Center In considering what is meant by the term "Space Sci­ field for study, both of the intrinsic properties of space ence," I am reminded of the admonition to "keep your and of its influence on materials and man. If we were to eye on the doughnut and not on the hole." I am reminded ask what is space science, in the narrowest sense the an­ of this because it is so inappropriate. Indeed, in the swer would have to be the study of the properties of case of space science, the "hole" is so important that in space itself and the phenomena taking place in it. But a sense the space science "doughnut" would collapse where does it begin and where does it end? These ques­ without it. tions imply, for example, that astronomy (classically a In this context the all-important "hole" is the vast scientific discipline in itself) and the study of upper array of supporting disciplines without which the space atmospheric sciences belong to space science, and, in­ science doughnut would collapse. It includes all the deed, they are under its umbrella. But to study phe­ basic sciences, all the fields of engineering, and several nomena in space you have to get instruments and people fields outside the life sciences and physical sciences. there and be sure that their response is faithful. Thus, These other fields, such as economics, sociology, law, medicine and biology play an important role, and so does and even philosophy, constitute a part of the "hole" the study of materials and structures and so on. because the physical move into space has made-and will In this infancy of space science it is almost impossible increasingly make-an enormous impact on our econ­ to separate in an intelligible way the doughnut from the omy, our global interaction, and our way of life. Surely hole. In the future, perhaps, when we understand and feel the advent of the Space Age will change our lives as much comfortable about the role of the hole, we may find a as-or more than-any scientific advance to date. better defined niche for space science. For the foresee­ What is the doughnut? It is the laboratory supplied able future, however, it must certainly call upon a variety by space itself, and this laboratory is a new and fertile of other disciplines. - 3 "High-minded" cosmic ray researchers at the University of Rochester use huge balloons to carry their instruments aloft. This three-million cubic foot balloon, launched over Minnesota in 1964, carried a gamma ray telescope for Professor Everett Hafner and graduate student Gerald Share. Just a year ago three University researchers sent a cosmic ray detector 23 miles above Palestine, Texas, as part of the UR's continuing study of the tiny packets of mass or energy which constantly bombard the earth as they speed through space. Last April the data collected on the ex­ pedition enabled the Rochester team to pinpoint the first area in space which can be identified as a source of gamma radiation. The headline-making discovery was the latest in a long list of accomplishments of the UR's Cosmic Ray Group, formed in 1948. The research group has been headed since 1951 by Professor Morton Kaplon, who, while a graduate student at the University, co-discovered the R-star (R for Rochester), which gave the first clear­ cut evidence of the production of large numbers of mesons in high-energy nuclear collisions at the top of the earth's atmosphere. Two years later Kaplon's cosmic ray studies enabled him to measure the life-span of the neu­ tral meson. His work illustrates one of the reasons scientists are interested in cosmic rays: practically all of the so-called Professor Morton F. Kaplon holds a component of one of elementary particles which physicists try to create on the Cosmic Ray Group's latest detectors. The device is earth with huge cyclotrons and other accelerators are among three such units used in analyzing data gathered on produced in nature as a result of cosmic ray interactions last summer's Canadian balloon flights. in the atmosphere. Indeed, many of the particles were 4 "Humpty-Dumpty" and its cargo, a spark chamber cosmic ray detector, enabled VR physicists to find the first celestial body identifiable as a point source of gamma rays. The balloon which lifted canister and equipment 23 miles above Texas dropped them onto a Georgia pig farm. Graduate student Roland Cobb repairs damage inflicted by angered pigs. first discovered through cosmic ray research. Scientists also believe that there may be some connection between the origin of cosmic rays and the so-called radio stars (concentrated sources of radio waves far out in space). Moreover, since gamma rays may be produced by nu­ clear interactions of charged cosmic rays in space, studies of gamma rays may yield data on the density of matter in space. Last spring's discovery of the gamma ray source cli­ maxed five years of research by Assistant Professor J. G. M. Duthie and two graduate students, Roland Cobb and Joseph Stewart. Their search for the point in the region they dubbed "Cygnus GR-1" was prompted by a 1958 theoretical prediction by Professor Malcolm Savedoff, also of the Cosmic Ray Group. Duthie, who led the Texas expedition last year, plans to conduct a series of balloon flights from Australia this fall to look for gamma ray sources in the skies of the Southern Hemisphere. Researchers pack up a counter telescope used in July's bal­ Last July a three-man team traveled to Ft.