World scientists work together CIENTISTS from more than 40 countries are quietly preparing for an undertaking which could unravel laws of nature destined to revolution- ize our daily lives to the same degree as man’s splitting the atom. Called the International Geophysical Year, this great- est and most promising world- wide sientific study ever un- dertaken by man will drama- tically illustrate the tremen- dous rewards of internation- al cooperation. Enthusiasts have dubbed it the “Geophys- ics-for-Peace” program. From July this year through December 1958, scientists will girdle the earth and pierce the atmosphere, measuring the rotation, size and shape of this whirling planet, probing its core and its oceans, the rhyme and rythm of its tides and air currents. -In the course of this most comprehensive study of the earth, the 5,000-odd scientists jointly may ferret out the answers to such eternal ques- tions as these: Can we _ predict quakes? ; Can dry spells be predict- ed in time to warn farmers? Is the earth warming up? Will the melting of ice caps and glaciers containing one percent of the earth’s water, eventually submerge populat- ed coastlines? bes earth- bes bos One of the most spectacular projects will be the 14-nation attack on the last great blank spot in the world atlas — Ant- arctica. The silent sixth con- tinent, as large as continental United States and Europe combined, is believed to cradle some of the earth’s richest strategic mineral deposits as well as the largest unworked coal field in the world. As a result of IGY, the for- bidding ice deserts will in the future be dotted with atomic- powered settlements and mines drawing the reluctant contin- ent into the turbulent social- political life of the world. Preparations for the scien- tific probing of the ice-cov- ered south polar land mass began as early as 1955. The U.S. party, with Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in charge has constructed ad- vance bases on McMurdock Sound and at Little America. Russian scientists are based at Knox Coast, the British at Duke Ernst Bay and the French at Pt. Geologie. During this 1956-57 south- ern summer, a South Pole ob- servatory is being built to be manned by®15 scientists throughout 1957-58, Evenutal- ly 30 or more bases will stud Antarctica coastlines. The Big Four and possibly other nations plan to build stations inland as well, while expeditions from several na- tions will criss-cross the con- tinent. $e % The outstanding and moti- vating feature of the entire IGY project is the synchroni- zation and timing of the re- search on a world-wide basis. When a storm occurs over the West Indies, for instance, scientists will, for the first time, be studying the related weather conditions at that mo- ment in Antarctica, Canada or any other part of the world. ‘ The necessity for collecting geophysical data intensely and simultaneously over large and remote areas of the earth has long been felt by scientists. As a result, the first International Polar Year was held in 1882-3 which set up pases in the Arctic and tore aside its mysterious veil. A second International Polar Year in 1932-33 brought new knowledge of radio communi- cation and opened the way for many electronic advances such as radar. Since then our Clvi- lization has become so highly dependent on radio commun- ications that radio interference which we cannot understand or control is a life-and-death matier. A family in Western Cana- da, enjoying the aerial play of the aurora borealis from their backyard, probably is unaware that a pilot over the North Atlantic is in serious trouble due to the aurora’s interference with his radio set. Because of the pressing need for more knowledge about such phenomena, and_ the headlong progress in earth sciences since the last inter- national year, learned socie- ties, through their Internation- al Council of Scientific Un- ions adopted plans for a third to unravel mysteries of planet international year after only a quarter-century instead of the planned 50-year span. The. date chosen coincides with the peak of the solar cycle, which means that geo- physical disturbance is not expected to be as frequent again until about 1970. bes at o Solar activity, which affects the atmosphere, weather and radio communications, will be one of the controlling fields in the program. A major ob- jective will be to find out more about cosmic rays, those hurt- ling fragments of atoms trav- elling from outer space at tre- mendous high speeds. Locked within these rays is energy mightier than any man has yet réleased. They spray the earth constantly, poirot HRN with sporadic power bursts greater by multi-millions than that generated by the largest atomic accelerators. Insight into their nature and origin may provide clues to new sources of power as revolu- tionary as thermo-nuclear fu- sion. Revolutionary new tools of science will be used to probe these geophysical enigmas. The most widespread publicity has been captured by history’s first artificial earth-circling satellites announced in 1955 by the U.S. and later by the USSR. Treated by most of the press here as a scientific ex- tension of the cold war, the two are actually complemen- tary rather than competitive. Although each participating country is responsible for car- rying out its own program, all the national IGY commit- tees have been meeting to- gether under guidance of the co - ordinating international committee to integrate and coordinate the separate pro- grams into a truly coopera- tive, world-wide effort. PAOLA WOODS ts There’s cold but no cold war among scientists in Geophysical Year operations. ABOVE: The Soviet Mirny (“for peace”) settlement in the Antarctic, where 14 countries have expedi- tions. TOP RIGHT: Soviet astronomer V. Podobed takes ob-- servations with a meridian circle. Most of the information obtained by scientists of the various countries will be pooled for the common benefit. Hollywood produces fine Van Gogh movie ES FOR LIFE is the least characteristic big league Hollywood production». within memory. That is high praise, for the greater the distance from ‘“Hollywoodenness” the closer the identity with hon- esty and sincerity — and life! It is, of course, a biography of the great Dutch painter, ‘Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90), based on Irving Stone’s much reprinted and translated 1934 novel. Beginning with Van Gogh’s evangelical mission to the Borinage (a Belgian coal mining region) and ‘showing how his honest sympathy for people led to a break with church hypocrisy, the film covers the last 11 years of his life. All his mature work belongs to this one decade. He paint- ed some 600 oils and made over 800 drawings, yet during his lifetime he sold only one painting for a few francs. Now his output is valued somewhere between $20 and $30 million. Lust For Life was directed by Vincent Minelli and script- ed by.Norman Corwin, using MGM’s Cinemascope and Met- rocolor techniques. With ac- cess to Van Gogh paintings (through the cooperation of Galleries and private collec- tors in several countries) and some of the original sites, viv- id color and camera work are combined with painstaking at- tention to detail in a superb reconstruction of the experi- ences and locals of Van Gogh’s life. This is an exceptional film, a vigorous page from life in an uninhibited manner quite foreign to official Hollywood. N. E. STORY — _ FEBRUARY 15, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 13