Abstract
THE Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution on May 22 was delivered by Sir Richard Gregory, editor of this journal, who took as his subject “Science in a Changing World”. Every week the correspondence columns of NATURE include announcements of new experiments and observations carried out by the authors in various parts of the world. Since its foundation by Sir Norman Lockyer in 1869, this journal has been the recognised medium for recording such advances in natural knowledge and for the discussion of scientific questions raised by them. Each volume of the hundred and thirty-six which have been published contains noteworthy communications of this kind, and a few of them were mentioned in the discourse. A new era in the history of physical science began just forty years ago. Within a few months, the discoveries were announced of argon, helium, X-rays and radioactivity. It was in the columns of NATURE that Lord Rayleigh first directed attention to the differences of density between nitrogen obtained from the air and from chemical sources which led to the announcement in 1895 of the discovery of argon. Sir William Ramsay also announced there his extraction of helium from the mineral cleveite—twenty -seven years after it had been found by Sir Norman Lockyer in the sun.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Science in a Changing World. Nature 137, 859 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137859a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137859a0