Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

TECHNOLOGICAL• VS. BASIC RESEARCH
to 1.4 million volts, for research in metallurgy and electron optics; 6.5 and a
magnetic electron spectrometer, for the study of the beta- and gamma-ray
spectra of radioactive isotopes and measurement of their disintegration
schemes and nuclear energy levels.66 A mass spectrometer was obtained with
the help of the Office of Naval Research, for precise measurement of nuclear
masses. It was to be used initially for research in the components of syn-
thetic rubbers.67 A 50-million-volt betatron was also acquired, for studies in
protection and proper shielding against high-energy radiation; 68 and a 1.5-
million-volt X-ray tube, for an investigation of the broad X-ray beams used in
medical and industrial radiography.6" Still another new "tool" was the
Bureau's ultrasonic laboratory for special studies of the properties of gases
and liquids, employing sound waves of extremely high frequency.7°
In the field of electronics, military and naval ordnance projects pre-
dominated, including advanced design work on nonrotating proximity fuzes;
development of electronic and servomechanism controls for an advanced
guided missile, the Kingfisher series; development of a proximity fuze for
guided missiles; and refinement of the toss bombing device, the aircraft bomb
director. Important to these projects was the research initiated in the basic
elements of electronic computing machines, and the investigation of electronic
components in a new electron tube laboratory set up at the Bureau. A
secondary purpose of the laboratory was to apply its knowledge of electronic
instrumentation and controls to measurement problems in the other divisions
of the Bureau71
Apart from the highly classified work on proximity fuzes for guided
missiles, the research in electronics centered on electron tubes, printed cir-
cuits, and automatic computers. The Bureau designed special equipment
NBS Annual Report 1948, pp. xv, 214—215. For the Bureau's new microsectioning procedure
involving organic materials, in high polymer studies employing the electron
microscope, see RP2020 (Newman, Borysko, and Swerdlow, 1949) and Hearings * * *
1950 (Feb. 23, 1950), p. 2169.
NBS Annual Report 1946, p. 183.
LC791, "The mass spectrometer" (1945); NBS Annual Report 1946, p. 193.
"NBS Annual Report 1946, p. 184; Hearings * * * 1948, p. 356. With the installation
of the first betratron in late 1949, the Bureau ordered a second unit, a 180-million-volt
synchrotron (Hearings * * * 1951, p. 217; Science, 105, 230, 1947). Unlike the
conventional X-ray machine used in the treatment of most cancer patients, the betatron is
used against deepseated cancers, producing high-speed electrons that on striking an
internal target produce X rays. Its electron beam can also be used directly to irradiate
a tumor. The machines at the Bureau were for studies in basic radiation physics, not
medical research or treatment of patients.
° NBS Annual Report 1946, p. 184.
'°
NBS Annual Report 1948, p. 221.
NBS Annual Report 1946, pp 201—203.
451