Physics society meetings yesterday and today

Every physicist worthy of the name looks forward to attending one or more meetings of physical societies annually. Whatever his reasons for going—and they are many—he returns with some measure of inspiration as a reward. Often, as we say in the trade, he “gets an idea’’ from speaker or friend, or, as President Houston of the Rice Institute once put it, “He may get an idea of where to get a contract”, a very important consideration these days.