SCIENCE

hoped for

“yer another branch of science
is now coming into the head-
€S—geophysics, which is the

Physics of the earth and its

€nvironment.

At a pinch it could be taken

© include geochemistry, the

Sclence of the materials mak-

Mg up the earth, and geology,

the study of the structure and

story of continents, mountains
8nd oceans,
It is closely linked: to plane-
TY Cosmogony, the science of
€ origins..of the earth and

Planets,

For a whole number of prob-

*ms in geophysics it is import-

— §nt to know what goes on

Above the earth’s atmosphere
and very high in the atmos-

_ -iete, more than 100 miles up

aL: So.

ea 800d deal of information

already been ‘gained. by
oa or less direct methods
“€N it first became possible
eee more direct observa-
“8S using high altitude rock-

.

Year 1958.

e

a The first rockets to be
€d were German V2’s, bulit

f
; ane bombardment of Lon-

aa main snag with using

for 'S is that they remain
°nly about one. minute in
Very high atmosphere.

; Ne 8reat deal more could be
3 = With an “artifical moon,”
PAR object chock-a-block,
qj; SClentific instruments, cir-
ta Tound the earth for a
a or two and sending radio
: What oe *.. back to report on
fae it finds,
..° Possibility of having such
“ttificial be feliites for the geo-

Phys}
“lig year is really very ex-

‘
Bi RE ee
thous ety _to what is often
aa the earth does not
high 8found in empty space;
Phere Pove the earth’s atmos-
— &Ven all sorts of exciting
ants take place.
fron, °Xample, the earth is hit
of 7. me to time by streams

Cays, _CUt by the sun. These
fn Magnetic storms, which
Com © detected with delicate

888 needles and which may
© interference with long
“fe telephone calls.

Sto E ‘Particularly violent

ea
dist

Ontong Of April 24, 1940, even
tran 2&4 with electric power
mission.

The

Uce aaees particles also pro-
_-7€ aurorae or northern

: “Poyyecttically charged particles

now is reaching

} Cooperation of world scientists

in geophysical year

lights.. Normally these are only
seen in polar regions, but the
very biggest can be seen in
most parts of the world. Dur-
ing a giant magnetic storm in
1872 the aurora was even seen
in Bombay.

Magnetic storms also affect
long-distance radio. The rea-
son is that high in the atmos-
phere there are always a great
many electrically charged par-
ticles, forming what is known
as the ionosphere. x

This acts as a great mirror
for the ordinary radio waves
and were it not for that mirror
long distance radio would. be
impossiblé; the radio waves
would travel in straight lines

and could never get round the .

curved earth. ‘

Magnetic storms may lead to
such distortion of the radio,
mirror that long-distance radio
may be put out of action for
several days. ‘ :

Se ey

Artifical earth satellites may

Artificial satellites may be ready for the geophysical

be used to study both magnetic

storms and also the normal -

ionosphere. They may also be
used to study all sorts of ra-
diations which never reach the
earth’s surface.

The atmosphere of the earth
is transparent to what we call
visible light; indeed the hu-
man eye is sensitive to this par-
ticular light precisely because
it does pass freely through the
atmosphere.

But there are many more
radiations, both more blue and
more red than visible light,
which are blotted out by the
atmosphere. The ionospherd
is formed bygultra-violet light .

and X-rays poured out by the
sun,

The possibility of studying
such radiations directly, using
earth satellites, would be of the
very greatest interest for geo-
physics: and for astronomy. |

bes os xm
International collaboration is
absolutely indispensible for

geophysics since very little use- .

ful information can be obtain-
ed from a single observatory.

* It is only when results from
all over the world are put to-
gether that a really significant
pattern begins to emerge. To
geophysicists the earth and our
knowledge of.the earth belongs
to all of us. :

The International Geophysi-
cal and Geodetical Union ar-
ranges the Geophysical Year,
which runs from July 1957. to
December 1958, when scientists
of all countries make special
efforts to carry out their work
in common.

Geophysical years are usual-
ly arranged every 11 years, at
times of the maximum of the
sun-spot cycle. This is the
time when the greatest number
of interesting events can be
expected.

International collaboration
will be particularly necessary
to get the most out of artificial
earth satellites. During the
time these are used all.routine
observations will need to be
carried out with very particu-
lar care.

And it would be very desir-
able for all countries to be able
to “listen in” to the radio mes-
sage the satellites send out.

What practical benefits will
all this bring ? Certainly it
should help to improve long-
distance radio and it may well
improve long - term. weather
forecasting. ;

But above all it will provide
new knowledge of a very fun-
damental nature, perhaps not
immediately useful but for
which later uses will undoubt-
edly be found.

What matters is that scient-
ists of all countries should col-
laborate in wresting the secrets
from nature. They can even
look further ahead to the pos-
sibilities of collaborating to
make space travel a reality.

The more that collaboration
and mutual understanding is
established between the peo-
ples of different countries the
» less is the danger that rocket

techniques will ever be used

as an aid to annilhilating each
other’s civilizations,
MICHAEL SEATON

Classic to open season
with great Chinese film

HE Classic Film Society of

Vancouver will open its
1955-56 season with the British
€olumbia premiere of an inter-
nationally acclaimed Chinese
film, The White-Haired Girl, it
was announced this week. _

Based on an actual event of
only 15 years.ago, the story of
the white-haired girl rapidly
acquired folk stature in north-
east China, became a national
favorite as a folk opera and
international
audiences as a film.

The Classic Film Society’s

full program for the season,
which opens October 16, is:
* November: Childhood
Maxim Gorky (Soviet).
ember: The Beggar’s Opera
(British). January: Canadian
films. February: Grand Wlusion
(French). March: Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington (U.S.).
April: Open City (Italian).
May: Torment (Swedish).
Memberships in the Classic
Film Society are available at
Kelly’s box office or they may
be obtained by phoning CHerry
4217,

of
Dec-

The J. Arthur Rank production of Romeo_and Juliet,

which has been highly praised by film critics, is now
showing in provincial theatres. This picture shows Lawrence
Harvey and Susan Shentall in the title roles.

Hollywood jiete: ake
and cowardly--hero

Beate woaD has a new type
hero. Not the tall, handsome
stranger riding into town to
battle with his two fists against
fearful odds. The new hero
isn’t the athletic type at all.

Your’re more likely to see him
being pushed around by any
small small-time hoodlum with
a gun and taking it all because,
you see, the other fellow has
a gun and he can’t do anything.

This new hero hasn’t even
enough sehse to holler for help.
He tries offering money ‘and,
if that doesn’t work, he doubts
that anything else will.

He’s a firm believer in the.
- individual,

private enterprise
American way—and it scares
him nearly to death.

One such hero is Pete Kelly
in Pete Kelly’s Blues.

Pete is a jazz-band leader
in the Kansas City of 1927, when
Prohibition had put the whole
of U.S. night life into the hands
of gangsters.

When a gangster decides to
move in on Pete’s band and
take a quarter of its earnings,
Pete .knuckles under. He
angrily rejects a band member’s
suggestion that the union might
help.

When the gang shoots a mem-

‘ber of his band, Pete refuses

to join other musicians in
hunting the killer. He insults
the policeman who tries to en-
list his cooperation,

It isn’t until the gangster has —

beaten up a nice girl singer
and turned her from an alco-
holic into a lunatic, and until
most of his friends have left
him in disgust, that Pete de-

cides to do a little investigating —

on his own. )

Even though he keeps a pet
bird, is loved by a_ beautiful
girl of the Rolls-Royce-owning

._ Set and finally encompasses the

death of the villain, Pete Kelly

‘is not a lovable; still less a

heroic hero.

‘Jack Webb, who directed the

film and plays Pete Kelly, is
a performer of ideals and
energy who knows exactly what
he wants and achieves it with
a series of crude but telling
camera effects and an hypnotic-

ally monotonous narrative style
laced with deadpan wisecracks:

Within. its limits the picture
of Kansas City night life is
convincing, the jazz sweet,
Peggy -Lee. is superb as, the
alcoholic singer and Ella Fitz-
gerald a wonderful breath of
warm humanity as a hot mom-
ma of the period:

m a 2

Above Us the Waves

typically decent,

is a

of the brave men who crept 60
miles up the Trondheim fjord

in midget submarines to cripple -

the German battleship Tirpitz.

It is an almost nostalgic re-
minder of the days of the last
war when individual initiative
and: bravery still counted for
something, the pre-atomic age
when personal qualities could
alter the course of a war,. or
at least of a campaign. :

The exploit itself has plenty
of tension and excitement, but

the crew members never quite |
emerge as characters. They are»
issued in a perfunctory way.

with identity tags—Cockney
humorist, Australian, married

man, and so on—but they never -

~Treally make us care. which is
which.

THOMAS SPENCER

SUL UL UROL i Ht fn fn Tn ont fet Bat | EO ee Re

- restrained. -
British film about the exploits.

STARTS MONDAY -

Oct. 3— Oct. 8

THE MAGIC OF “STOWE FLOWER” = oR
THE POWER OF “ALEXANDER NEVSKY”

ARTKINO  werseNTs

THE FABULOUS

~ muse ay RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF
i WINNER 1953 INTER-
NATIONAL FILM

PRIZE AT VENICE.....

VARSITY THEATRE —
4375 West 10th

wine e

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 30, 1955 — PAGE 9