Abstract
THE chair of physics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, became vacant last year upon the retirement of Prof. H. H. Paine. The newly appointed head of the Department of Physics, Prof. G. T. R. Evans, delivered his inaugural lecture in the Great Hall of the University on September 23, taking as his subject "Radium : 1898-1948". Prof. Evans took the opportunity of paying a tribute to the memory of Madame Marie Curie and her husband. The vice-chancellor, Principal H. R. Raikes, who presided, expressed the appreciation of the University at the presence of M. Lancial, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic in South Africa, In connexion with the inaugural lecture there was held a two-day Exhibition in the Department of Physics under the direction of Prof. G. T. R. Evans. The film, "Marie Curie", was shown in the Great Hall ; shorter films, "The Nuclear Structure of the Atom" and "Atomic Energy", were shown in the lecture theatre of the Department. The exhibition of nuclear phenomena, apparatus and films was open daily from 2.30 p.m. and attracted several thousand people. The exhibits included items of historic interest contributed by Madame Irene Joliot-Curie. Prof. A. M. Tyndall, of the University of Bristol, exhibited a collection of photomicrographs of nuclear tracks in photographic emulsions. The National Physical Laboratory of Pretoria demonstrated artificial radioactivity in biology. Other exhibits appreciated by the lay public were a working model of a cyclotron, a Wilson cloud chamber, Geiger counters and scalars, the medical use of radium and South African fluorescent minerals. This is the third exhibition organised by the Department of Physics since 1945 ; the crowds which gathered round the demonstrators until long after the hour for closing constituted convincing evidence of the appreciation of the Department‘s efforts to meet the layman‘s desire for a better understanding of modern physics.
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University of the Witwatersrand : Nuclear Physics Exhibition. Nature 162, 606 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162606a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162606a0