The development of science and technology feeds back new methods and new instruments which make progress in pure science possible. Thus the design of the great accelerator of CERN (in the USA) would have been almost impossible without the help of electronic computers; they made it possible to calculate the orbits of the protons in their million traversal of the magnetic race track and to design equipment to ensure that the orbits would be stable.
The development of the technology for using liquid hydrogen and liquid helium made possible the invention of the bubble chamber, which greatly simplified the study of disintegrations produced by the giant machines. The development of milli-microsecond techniques of electronics, growing out of radar, have combined with new methods of detection such as the anti-particles produced in energetic nuclear collisions.
In a similar way the wartime development of radar led to the new huge radio telescopes. which are now supplementing optical astronomy in a major way; and the development of rocket technology is enabling observations to be carried on outside the earth's atmosphere and into interplanetary space.
In the field of biology the impact of new techniques such as chromography and radioisotopes has greatly helped the work of the biochemists. Molecular biologists are able to determine the structure of more and more complex molecules by using computers of process their X-ray data.
Technological development itself depends more and more on the work of teams made up of scientists with different skills and disciplines contributing to a common problem. This kind of inter-disciplinary teamwork is beginning to be adopted even in universities.
The creative power of modern technology is so great that it is quite often possible to predict the course of development then years ahead. We can predict, for instance, that it will take ten years or so to bring a new type of nuclear power station or a new air-plane to the construction stage. We can also to some degree predict what new products will be produced by development teams. Many of the new antibiotics were discovered is a result of intensive team work, patiently trying one mould after of another until useful one were found, and a similar process has developed many of the new insecticides; the new fibers and plastics come from a similar process of trying one product after another, rejecting 99% in the process. Laboratories staffed by one or two-hundred scientists and develop new products of in interest to their company have produced new magnetic materials, synthetic diamonds, new ceramic, etc.
Where industrial and development organisations pay insufficient attention to the scientific basis of the work only too often troubles arise which can delay the commissioning of plants and cost crores of rupees. It is still generally true that there should be more science and less "cut and try" in development work. Nevertheless industry is steadily becoming more scientific. In advanced countries the number of scientists and trained engineers is increasing at a rate of about 10% a year. About 400 engineers per million inhabitants are now being produced each year in the technologically advanced countries, about 200 in Britain and about 70 in the European Economic Community, but many of the new states are training only a few per year. The impact of modern science is forcing all countries to increase the length and quality of educational training and to increase the proportion of scientists in the output of higher educational institutions.
The development of science is enormously increasing our knowledge of the physical and biological world. The astro-physicists have been able to work out the life history of stars and to relate them to observations of astronomy. The work the radio astronomers is supplementing the work of optical astronomers in a notable way. We know now that radio-waves come from supernovae, such as the Crab Nebula, from colliding galaxies, and from many other sources of electromagnetic disturbances, such as sun spots. Very recently a pointed source of radio-waves picked up by a radio telescope was identified by the optical astronomers with faint star moving away us with a velocity half that of light, from which they concluded that it was 4.5 billion light years away.
Our Knowledge if inter-plantery space is now being supplemented by observations from balloons, rockets, and satellites and we have learned about the two Van Allen radiation belts of high speed, protons extending up from 603 to 4,000 miles. These may diminish greatly the expectation of life of the space travellers of the future. The expansion on interest and work in astronomy and cosmogony is good for stretching human imagination.
The development of the technology for using liquid hydrogen and liquid helium made possible the invention of the bubble chamber, which greatly simplified the study of disintegrations produced by the giant machines. The development of milli-microsecond techniques of electronics, growing out of radar, have combined with new methods of detection such as the anti-particles produced in energetic nuclear collisions.
In a similar way the wartime development of radar led to the new huge radio telescopes. which are now supplementing optical astronomy in a major way; and the development of rocket technology is enabling observations to be carried on outside the earth's atmosphere and into interplanetary space.
In the field of biology the impact of new techniques such as chromography and radioisotopes has greatly helped the work of the biochemists. Molecular biologists are able to determine the structure of more and more complex molecules by using computers of process their X-ray data.
Technological development itself depends more and more on the work of teams made up of scientists with different skills and disciplines contributing to a common problem. This kind of inter-disciplinary teamwork is beginning to be adopted even in universities.
The creative power of modern technology is so great that it is quite often possible to predict the course of development then years ahead. We can predict, for instance, that it will take ten years or so to bring a new type of nuclear power station or a new air-plane to the construction stage. We can also to some degree predict what new products will be produced by development teams. Many of the new antibiotics were discovered is a result of intensive team work, patiently trying one mould after of another until useful one were found, and a similar process has developed many of the new insecticides; the new fibers and plastics come from a similar process of trying one product after another, rejecting 99% in the process. Laboratories staffed by one or two-hundred scientists and develop new products of in interest to their company have produced new magnetic materials, synthetic diamonds, new ceramic, etc.
Where industrial and development organisations pay insufficient attention to the scientific basis of the work only too often troubles arise which can delay the commissioning of plants and cost crores of rupees. It is still generally true that there should be more science and less "cut and try" in development work. Nevertheless industry is steadily becoming more scientific. In advanced countries the number of scientists and trained engineers is increasing at a rate of about 10% a year. About 400 engineers per million inhabitants are now being produced each year in the technologically advanced countries, about 200 in Britain and about 70 in the European Economic Community, but many of the new states are training only a few per year. The impact of modern science is forcing all countries to increase the length and quality of educational training and to increase the proportion of scientists in the output of higher educational institutions.
The development of science is enormously increasing our knowledge of the physical and biological world. The astro-physicists have been able to work out the life history of stars and to relate them to observations of astronomy. The work the radio astronomers is supplementing the work of optical astronomers in a notable way. We know now that radio-waves come from supernovae, such as the Crab Nebula, from colliding galaxies, and from many other sources of electromagnetic disturbances, such as sun spots. Very recently a pointed source of radio-waves picked up by a radio telescope was identified by the optical astronomers with faint star moving away us with a velocity half that of light, from which they concluded that it was 4.5 billion light years away.
Our Knowledge if inter-plantery space is now being supplemented by observations from balloons, rockets, and satellites and we have learned about the two Van Allen radiation belts of high speed, protons extending up from 603 to 4,000 miles. These may diminish greatly the expectation of life of the space travellers of the future. The expansion on interest and work in astronomy and cosmogony is good for stretching human imagination.
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