In This Issue

 

Grand Slam

 

On the coverÑa portrait of a sonic boom.  In this case a focusing sonic boom has been simulated in the 17-inch shock tube in CaltechÕs Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories.  The shock wave has come in from the right, and has been reflected back from a curved wood surface.  In this shadowgraph, the wave is 0.11 milliseconds old, and is shown coming out of the focus, leaving behind (at the left) a hot blob of gas that was heated at the focus.  On page 14, more on this aeronautics research project in ÒSonic Booms.Ó

 

 

Fiat Lux

 

Many scientists are concerned about keeping the public informed of scientific findings that affect it.  One way in which that concern has been demonstrated at Caltech recently is with a series of open conferences on the ethical questions of science.  These conferences have been jointly sponsored by the Caltech Y and the Institute.  The first, The Impact of Genetic Engineering on Society,Ó was held in May 1972.  A second was held a year later on ÒThe Impact of Behavioral Engineering on Society.Ó

 

With partial funding by the Norton Simon. Inc. Foundation for Education, the third of these conferences, ÒThe Impact of Modern Biological Research on the Ethics of Society,Ó was held on the campus on April 20.  One of the principal speakers was Leroy Hood, MD, associate professor of biology, and Caltech alumnus (BS Ô60, PhD Ô68). ÒMedical Genetics and the Engineering of ManÓ (page 2), by Hood and Robert J. Mackin Jr., is in part adapted from HoodÕs talk on that occasion and in part drawn from discussions held the following day to consider how these issues might be communicated to the general public.  This workshop, also sponsored by the Simon Foundation, was attended by about a dozen scientists, physicians, ethicists, and representatives from the television industry.

 

Caltech alumnus Mackin (MS Ô5 I, PhD 53), who collaborated with Hood on this article, is also concerned about the publicÕs need to know what scientists are doing.  He  is manager of Caltech‑JPL Medical Laboratory Planning and of the JPL Space Sciences Division.

 

 

Food for Thought

 

CaltechÕs Linus Pauling, professor of chemistry emeritus, two‑time Nobel Prize winner, and perennial generator and explorer of ideasÑfrom the nature of the chemical bond, through outlawing war, to the value of vitamins, for exampleÑcame back to the campus recently as a guest of the Caltech YÕs Leaders in America program.  As always, he brought out standing‑room‑only crowds.  One of the largest groups turned tip at Ramo Auditorium on April 4 for his talk on nutrition.  ÒGood Nutrition for the Good LifeÓ (page 6) is adapted from that speech.

 

 

By Request

 

Richard P. Feynman, who is Richard Chace Tolman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, was CaltechÕs commencement speaker this yearÑby popular demand.

 

The faculty convocations committee, which arranges the InstituteÕs commencement ceremony every year, had just about decided to do away with the custom of having a formal commencement speaker at CaltechÕs 80th Annual Commencement on June 14, when the graduating senior class not only begged them to change their minds, but presented them with a list of speakers the seniors would like them to invite.  And FeynmanÕs name led all the rest.  (The rest, incidentally, included Elliot Richardson, Isaac Asimov, Eric Sevareid, and Woody AllenÑa very catholic selection.)

 

As Feynman began to cast about for a subject for his talk, he decided that it would at least have something to do with his recent investigations into such un‑scientific matters as ESP, Esalen, astrology, and expanded consciousness.  It was at this point, of course, that he had to produce a title for the talk, because the commencement program was going to press.  He settled on ÔUnscientific Evidence.Ó  Not until he began to put the actual talk together did he realize (Òlike the woman who expects to have a red‑headed son and names him RufusÑthen has a black‑haired daughterÓ) that his title no longer fit his talk.

 

So, on page 10, the transcript of FeynmanÕs commencement speech, ÒUnscientific Evidence,Ó appears with a new nameÑÒCargo Cult Science.Ó