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INDIAN TRAILS IN THE BEVATRON, OR The "Own Hou80" achduled lor lune 28. waa pal pond u the chlel ma8 valldallon Itation. By last allde-ruk Bgullng It was concluded that II only 36W people altendd. during e lour. hour wrlod. .ach porion would have Io circle Ihe 12o.loot dlemeler m q n e t a1 Ihe rate of one every mlnule end 5 wconb kvatron la propnulnq wllh dupelch but nonethe1.u there are only narrow pothways around the machlnm. allowing sIngl..IIle circumtuvlqalton *'a la Paluto". II bk8 lite the bvatmn Iloor werythlngl D.Wla wlll be announcd in a later hum. June and July in Livermore are iust one sunny day est summer city; however, it is the spot where one of the moat coldly, competent computing machines in the world has taken-up residence amidst a group of perspirJim Norton and Bob Mainhardt summarize the Univac (affectionately called the 'Thing') as a lame gray box containing 5400 tubes and 18.ooO germanium diodes. and cawble of addina I 1 diait numbers electronicallv at the Here are a Iew of its unflustered-achievements:Chet Kenrich points out that the Army Map Services' unit, Ih. fohn H. b w nn ce ol Donna tboraloq loll New Yak by plane An). delay ln oblalnlng vlu ud ckram lnto a utelllt. slab was c o ~ plc u orul yabmnl aller urpent appeal8 from Archblahop Hurley 01 Cleveland and Archbuhop MIW d Sen Frand.m wre mad. IO !he We8 imprbond In 1946 by the Tilo qwemrnenl. then reloand under Last May. the gunfire heard in Wildcat Canyon, near El Camto, sounded like a company of Marines had landed and "Lalayette, we are here!'' It was the semiannual firearm session of the Radiation Laboratow Police Department doing some plain and fancy shooting. The officers gratified Captain H. H. Brown and FBI Spedal Agent James Carlyle, who managed the shoot. with mome excellent scores. Lab Security Officer, Phil Schiedermayer. gave us the cold dope: Our constabulary use the standard .38 callber service revolver over what is called, by most police departments and the FBI, the "Practical Pistol Course." This requires hitting a silhouetted tarpet. reloading and firing again, against split second timing. from the positions illustrated below and at set distances from the bull's-eve. Between the time of the fin! shoot and the one just past, the average score of our force rose from 51.25 to 74.66. The out. standing gains were registered by Officers: Desoto. Ellis, rl Swope, Ramaqe, Tumer, Arnold. Waller. Rink, Glover, Smith, Noia and Nicholson. rak of 1900 per skond. - 1 What can a Univac do that's uniaue? which L-the same a s ours, L processtnq a mass of numerical geodetic position data which will lead to a redetermination 01 the size and shape of the earth. Lou Nofrey MYS the New's "Thing" has available such a store of loqistics that it could qive. on a tnoment's notice. operational requirements b r the defense of almost any place in the world Arrordinq to Georqe Evans and Dick Karpen. the Bureau of Census' Univac can provide you with the age, sex. counhy of birth, education. occupation and income of every Tom. Dick and Harry Smith In any county. city or state In the USA (as of the 1950 count). lutes Merael and Sidney Fembach. two more Livermom mathematical experts, inform us that you can rent time on the Reminpton Rand unit, which is now commercially available in New York, at a cost of several hundred dollars an hour. Bob Crew describes our own Univac as a completely electronlc system for processinq both numerical and alphabetical data without special coding for straiqht-forward calculations. On the other hand. it is so flexible that it can be tailored to suit any coding application: from the most complex rtatistlcal problems to extremely complicated mechanical ones. It has been Mid that the Univac has a memory like an elephant. Aaually it has a rememberability like a couple of elephants; for it has a double one! This memory is The machine is equinced with electronic chwking devices. These consist of duo kate circuits in 811 Of Unlvac's important functions. Such Siamese twin circuits of two types: a metallic tape and a mercury delay line. C
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assure correct answers, for should impulses from these circuits disagree en route throuqh the computer the Univac stops and refuses to print any answers. This "No!" of malfunction is signaled by a flashing light on the control panel. Immediately Kilpatrick's and Nofrey's operators and engineers go into a huddle with Wilder's coder programers to ascertain what Le heck is' wrong. These are the boys who know all the answers and keep the machine's efficiency rate on an extremely hiqh production level.. A reel of tape is 1,500 feet long and contains a maq netic code of 1,440,000 diqits or characters. The machine can handle IO tapes simultaneously, whtch ia equivalent to the information recorded on 180.000 punched cards. The computer's inlernal memory, the mercury d e lay line, remembers 12.000 digits or characters at one time. These diqits represent the data to be acted upon by Univac and the instructions for arranging and CA~CUlatinq the data. The metallic tapes, which feed data lo the Univac and remove solutions from it. provlde data ai 10,OOO characters p e r second, 24 hours a day. Combined with the iwo "memories" are high-speed Input and output devices. At the bottom of this page is a drawing of the "Thino" in its airconditioned r w m at Livermore. Speaking of temperatures again. Univac itself. has an internal aircoolinq system. In the next few issues of the Bulletin w e will cover such components as the Uniprlnters, Unlservos, the Supervisory Control, etc. (which have tndividualities all their own) plus more on operations such a s that of Glen Culler, and his Desk Computer Group, and how they lit into Univac'r overall picture. Bob Oeder's group and the Card Program Calculators wlll also be discussed in a later issue of the Bulletin. Raymond Davld Rob.rt.on iB5.. Unlvarally d Colorado: In a awlmmlng &dent at La lolh Cove. on July 23. 1 9 s . Hugh &&a brok aublanco In brlnplrq k y In lrom Ih. m. Ray W ~ Dhorn In Conrad. MWIDM. on luly I t . 1920. allmdod a Fommlulon uGui q n a1 tho end 01 OM yw. hirfno Ih. p.rlod of 1944.1445. Ray m d In Iha P d k Thmlr. 01 Oprallon8. U.Ilqhllng. H. n w planly d actlon and rodvd dIDHon lor bravq lor h b mol.h.adod wort during th. Kamlknd day8 on Upon crmpl.lIng hla tour d duly In 1946. Rob.- b a n Maalar'n dqrn In 1947. AI tho Ym. d hh hlh. Ray h d corn. Paul h Rob Whit. d D C.rrllo. C.tUornh. and Marlammh RoLmrIaen Kluahnun d Rkhland. Waahlnolon. THE BULLDIN'S SUMMER HIATUS
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HIGH TEMPERATURE MOLECULES AND THE STARS From the absolute zero readings in Professor W. F. Giauque's frosty Laboratory in Gilman Hall's bastment to the ZiC-XOl swelterinq k r e e s of "K' (Kelvin units) in Latimer's 6 Brewer's third floor lab we find one of the worlds greatest temperature differentials. ed by Professor W. M. Lather and directed by Professor Leo Brewer, is exploring the vast uncorelated field of molecule types that can exist in scorchinq heat. We h o w very little about those which are important at hiqh temperatures. We do know. however, they are different from those found at conventional levels. ist at hiqh temperatures. From spectroscopic examination of the liqht from stars it is found that these same molecules are also present there and therefore astronomical data are useful for their study. Thus, Dick Porter, who is investiqatinq the qaseous oxide molecules of magned u m , has made chemical studies of the magnesium oxide aystem and carried out spectroscopic studies in collabe ralion with Professor F. k Jenkins of the Physics Department and Professor I. G. Phlllips of the Astronomy De partment. He haa also made slmilar studies of "CF" (carKarl Wieland, who 1s visltinq us from Switzerland Dr. Ketil Motdeldt. from Norway, is studyinq NarCO., (e d u m carbonate) vapor molecules. Jim Kane's study of molecular interactions with surfaces. is accomplished by reflecting beams to determine the factors which influence the boundnq of molecules upon hitting various solid surfaces. Althouqh the main interest is the study of qaseous molecules, it is necessary to contain the hiqh temperature systems in some solid material. Much effort has gone Into the development of new hiqh meltinq materials for containers. Oscar Krikorian is studyinq the possibilities of the silicides of titanium. derconlum, miobium. tantalum, molybdenum and tunqsten as refractories. As information is accumulated about the types of molecules to be expected at hiqh temperatures. it is hoped that it will be possible to predict the types of reactions that can be expected when various materials are brought tcqether at hiqh temperatures. LIVERMORE GUEST HOUSE forqet that comfortable facilities are now available for them riqht in Livermore. We have leased a duplex, within walking distance of the downtown area, to accommodate six transient guests. Sinqle rooms are available as well as twd0-a-room bedrooms. complete with bath and liviw room. Maid service is provided Monday through Friday. and transportation is easily a mired to and from the project. The Livermore Business Office should Le advised of the name of your quest. the date of arrival, length of stay, and the name of the Laboratory host. NEW METABOLIC UNIT FOR DONNER After much crinkling of blueprints and many conferences, the plans for a new metabolic unit have finally become a reality to Dr. John H. Lawrence. Director of The unit. now under construction, will be called the Donner Pavilion and forms a new wing on Cowell Memorial Hospital. The additional space has two Ilocrs, the lower one containing facilities for the care of eiqht bed patients while the upper floor provides four laboratories. The pavilion will make it possible lor Dr. John H. Lawrence and his qroup to study metabolic processes oI patients with certain d~seaseswhich are the subject of investigation 1.7 Medical Physics at Donner Isatopes will be used as tracers in the metabolic studlea. using techniques developed here by Drs. John Lawrence. John Gofman. Hardm lones. Ernie Dobson and Will Sirl. Some of the instruments developed by Dr i Tobias and Hal Anqer wlll be moved into the new unit 7 and will help to make this one of the most outstandins COAL STOVE OR COBALT SOURCE If YOU have ever seen somethinq resembling a cross between a lame stencil cutter and a pot bellied stove, in the former q u a d s kiosk below Buildinq 4, don't be alarmed. This Is not some longhaired scientist's version of the Maqnelic Monster, Nels Garden assures, but is one of the most intense cobalt-60 sources in the world. Health Chemistry tells us that the small, qrayinq by Health Chemistry for Dr. Tolbert of Medical Physics. The source Is used to study the effects of hiqh enerqy gamma radiation on orpanic molecules of physiolwical significance, particularly those organic compounds which comprise physiolwical structures. The source of radiatiqn conaists of a heavily shielded circular arranqement of sixteen small rods of radioactive cobalt-60. The maximum radioactive intensity of this source IS approximately 400.000 roentqens per hour or equal to the radiation hom over 100 qrams of radium. Radium -1s about $2D,o(x1 per gram. The total value of cobalt-60 in Heath Chemistry's unit cost approximately Many of the desiprr features are the work of Georpe Edwarh of Engineering. Shieldinq requirements and the calculations leadinq to the optimum arrangement of the source were supplied by Dr.Nielsen of Health Chemistry. STUDIED AT CROCKER Studies on the relative bioloqical effects of alpha and beta emitters by comparisons of relative sodium content. between experimental and control animals. are being conducted by the tracer qroup at Crocker Laboratory under the direction of Dr. loseph Hamilton. Rats and monkeys are used. Project statistician is Margaret Gee. aeroloqy by Nylan Ieunq. injections are qiven ISY Marshall Parrott. Marilyn HemeAway and Helen lohnson perform the autopsies. In addition, considerable work has been done with chelating agents (these are metallic orpanic compounds which form stable combinations with many metals) in attempting to remove plutonium from the skeleton following its injection into rats. Some effect was observed but was not of sufficient magnitude to justify ib value in attempting to treat chronic plutm nium poisoninq in man.
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WHAT'S.,COOKING IN THE BEVATRON When the am'ptance tests of the Westinghouse power supply (see May issue) were completed last November, work still remained to build and install the vacuum tube in the bevatron magnet and to assemble and install the pole pieces. Both of these jobs have been going on simultaneously because part of the magnet poles are outside the vacuum and the remainder are inside. The external parts are called pole bases and the internal parts The vacuum tank is made up of three types of parts. First, the curve tank. an assembly of stainless steel sheets supported by an aluminum framework, is used inside the quadrants. In the straight sections are four tangent tanks, each weighing close to 40 tons, provided with covers on three sides with vacuum pumps on the bottom Finally, between the tangent tanks and the curve tanks are short transition tanks built like laxye aylphon bellows to take up small variations in the length of the circle. The steel plates, of which there are about 200,MX) magnet pole tips and bases,were punched at the plant of the Verson Manufacturing Company in Dallas, Texas. Company liaison was handled by Max Hams, Bill Humphrey and Don Miller. The job was unusual because of the larqe size and great thlckness of the plates as well as the need for hish accuracy. Punching dies were checked by gauges made in Andy Harvie's shop. The pole tip plates were enameled to provide an insulated surface suitable for use in the vacuum. As the plates arrived in Berkeley they were assembled in fixtures designed by Pat Callahan of mechanical engineering. This was done by members of Ty Hannula's assembly shop, headed-up part of the time by AI DeClercq. Engineering responsibility rested with loe Dorsi, Bill Humphrey and Cliff Bacigalupi. Keeping the assembled stacks or slabs within the close tolerances required and holding them within weight allowances was a delicate job. Each stack was individually analyzed by Joe Dorst in order to distribute any weight variations around the magnet, accordinq to methods sugsested by ET. Wilson Powell. Martin Schwager did the planning for installing the finished slabs and he and Mario Carota are makins sure that nothing comes+- cropper in this phase of construction. As the slabs were assembled, the vacuum tank building was in progress. The joints between the sheets and the aluminum frame were made by double gaskets r e quirins precision assembly to assure vacuum tightness. Furthermore, all gasket joints had to be electrically insulated to prevent damaqe from electrical current that …