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Thermodynamics and quanta in Planck's work
Planck's search for a deeper understanding of the second law of thermodynamics led him to a strange and unexpected result—the concept of energy quanta. His conservative attitude toward this revolutionary discovery expressed itself in his attempts to reconcile the quantum with classical electrodynamics.
NBS moves to Gaithersburg
Although some retire at age 65, the National Bureau of Standards is more active than ever. At its new home, being dedicated this month some 2700 people will be working. Most of the equipment and staff have already left the crowded, obsolete Washington site and occupy 15 of the buildings planned.
Physics and life prolongation
New methods for freezing and storing at low temperatures might lead to many new potentialities for the human race, the most exciting of which would be the opportunity for dying individuals to avail themselves of future medical progress. Successful experiments have already been done with cells and lower animals, but many problems remain.
Thirty years of mesons
Mesons have been predicted (in the first place, pi mesons by Yukawa in 1935), misidentified (mu mesons in cosmic rays) and discovered (pi mesons in cosmic rays), or at times discovered and not understood (the K mesons). Although the discovery of more mesons is expected, it seems unlikely that we are about to return to a traditional view of the fundamental particles as “simply” composed.