MEETINGS to discuss the theory and applications of the Mossbauer effect can be summarized by the application of a mathematical series. This was pointed out by Dr. Hans Frauenfelder (University of Illinois) in an afterdinner talk at the Third International Conference on the Mossbauer Effect, sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency and held at Cornell University in Ithaca, N. Y. The oddnumbered meetings take place in isolated places, have long sessions, and are free of temptations. The even-numbered meetings take place in exotic places, have short sessions, and provide the conferees with all manner of extracurricular activity. Experimental evidence in support of this theory can be found in Table 1.

Columbia University's original cyclotron, a 10-MeV machine that has stood in the basement of Pupin Hall for 27 years, is being dismantled and sent to the Smithsonian Institution where it will be set up as an historical exhibit. The machine was one of the first particle accelerators constructed in the United States and was used for early experiments on the fission of uranium nuclei as well as other important work.

Marvin Fox, a nuclear physicist who specialized in the design and construction of nuclear reactors, died on March 19 of a heart attack. Dr. Fox, who was 55 years old, had been manager of arms control for the Hughes Aircraft Company.

For the past four years (1965-68) the New England Nuclear Corp (a supplier of Mossbauer sources) has sponsored a Mossbauer-Effect Methodology Symposium held prior to the annual meeting of the American Physical Society. The present volume, edited by Irwin Gruverman of New England Nuclear, contains proceedings of the third symposium held in New York, in January, 1967. The volume is composed of two sections, the larger being a collection of applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy in the area of material sciences; the second section is devoted to the methodology of several relatively recently developed Mossbauer nuclides. The level of the articles is generally introductory and for the most part the discussions are accessible to nonspecialists.

It is our sad task to report that Amos deShalit died of acute pancreatitis on 2 Sept. at the age of 42. His untimely passing is a great loss to his family, to the world of physics, to his institute and country and to the entire world. A brilliant physicist, deShalit was one of the very few who are at home with both experiment and theory. He was a brilliant administrator; while he was head (1954-66), the nuclear physics department at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovoth (Israel) developed into a leading center for the study of nuclear and particle physics, rivaled in its impact by only a handful of other institutions. He was a brilliant educator; since 1963 he had been actively involved in improving science education in Israel, particularly in the secondary schools. This activity was recently made formal by the creation at Weizmann of a department of science teaching that was headed by deShalit. Deeply committed to his country, he was much concerned with the problems of the Arab population.

RECENTLY THE VALUE of pure research to the US nation has come into question. Although the federal government has steadily increased its support of pure research since the Second World War, attempts to determine the value of pure-research activities to the national economy have been inconclusive. Project Hindsight concluded that very little basic research carried on in university laboratories had contributed to the development of weapons systems since the war and implied that consequently there was little point in the Defense Department's continued support of pure research in universities. On the other hand, those individuals who support increased funding of pure research by the federal government point out that the nation's most rapidly growing industries are those that have invested most heavily in research, with the implied conclusion that an investment in pure research will result in an expanded national economy.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS emerged from the war years in the 1940's as a field rich in applications but pitifully weak in fundamental understanding. In the next two decades, building on the impetus and insight achieved in the crash program of the 1940's, major progress has been made both in understanding and in application. The rich canvas of nuclear phenomena has been sketched in, and exquisite detail has emerged in many areas. Many other areas remain blank and await exploration and exploitation; indeed it has been necessary, repeatedly, to extend the boundaries of the canvas itself. Nuclear physics remains in the frontiers of man's understanding of his universe. To a unique degree it has also forced significant changes in contemporary society and civilization.

A long and careful search for double beta decay (simultaneous emission of two electrons) appears to confirm that leptons are conserved. C. S. Wu, R. K. Bardin, P. J. Gollon and J. D. Ullman of Columbia have found 69 events that may be the kind expected if leptons are conserved—that is, events in which two electrons are emitted with two neutrinos. Meanwhile, in 1100 hours of observation, they found only one event that might be a double beta decay without neutrinos.

Besides its high-energy-physics research (PHYSICS TODAY, February, page 57) Argonne National Laboratory has strong programs in nuclear, atomic and solid-state physics, and it is building a high-flux research reactor. During a recent visit there we spoke to some of the people in charge of these programs.

George Gamow, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Colorado, died 20 Aug. after a long illness. A resident of the US since 1934 and a citizen since 1940, he was born in Odessa, Russia on 4 March 1904. He was educated in the Normal School in Odessa and at the University of Leningrad, where he received his PhD in 1928.