Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 102: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MARCH OF SCIENCE Many people appear to think that theoretical science is rather a waste of time, at _ best an intellectual luxury and at worst a drain on available resources. Superficially, it may seem that their views are con- firmed by the recent report of the British Commonwealth Scientific Office in North America, which shows that of the enormous amount of money spent by the Federal Government on scientific re- search during the past two years, 94 per cent. went on applied science and only 6 per cent. on basic research. But closer inspection of the report and a wider view of the senti- ments of American scientists indicates quite clearly that there is great anxiety caused by these figures. A great many leading scientists in the States have expressed the view that if this unbalanced “molly- coddling” of applied science continues much longer, there will be no new basic science to be applied. They point out that it is essential for theory and application to advance to- gether. Any other way is not progress. 101 Some anti-theorists may seize upon the news that element ‘No. 99 has recently been pro- duced at the University of California and ask what use this element is, and is the expense which led to its dis- covery really justified? The answer, of course, is that we don’t know at the moment, but that the applied scientists now have another bottle on the shelf that they can try out for uses. The new element—pro- visionally called ekahelmitum —was made in the cyclotron at Berkeley. It takes us one step further away from the old fashioned schoolbook story that there are only 92 elements. Perhaps there are only 92 natural elements, but man has come along and made some new ones for him- self. Ekaholmium has an atomic weight of 247, is radio- active but not fissile. It is a nuclear-additive derivative of uranium, but it has no ex- plosive uses. Nor does it seem likely that ekaholmium will be useful in the production of atomic power. But some- where, sometime, somebody will find a use for it. Very few ecommicooolks.ecomn