Issues

Approximately fifty physicists, earth scientists, and astronomers met April 8 and 9, 1963, at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City to discuss the origin and evolution of atmospheres and oceans. The conference, organized by H. H. Hess of Princeton University and A. G. W. Cameron of the Goddard Institute, was the fourth held at the Institute on topics which have a special bearing on the main lines of inquiry in the space program. Previous meetings have dealt with the origin of the solar system, the planet Jupiter, and radio sources. The authors are all associated with the Goddard Institute.

In the light of US patent records, amplifying devices having the basic characteristics of the modern transistor appear to have been designed and used more than a generation ago by an unsung physicist whose death was reported last year. The author of this article, Virgil E. Bottom, is professor of physics and chairman of the Departments of Physics and Mathematics at McMurry College in Abilene, Texas. From 1953 to 1958 he was director of research of the Motorola Semiconductor Division in Phoenix, where he was in charge of the development of the first transistors used in automobile radios.

A summary account of the International Superconductivity Conference at Colgate University, August 26–29, 1963.

As Recommended by the NAS‐NRC