After he completes his formal education, the scientist sets about to investigate the world, for that’s what science is all about. The methods he uses to carry out his investigations depend on his particular field. It is impossible to outline what an individual scientist does because he may do any of a thousand things in any of a thousand ways. He may be concerned with nuclear energy almost totally, or he may be concerned with it only slightly.

It is possible, however, to sketch examples of some of the activities undertaken by various members of the scientific community.

Most people are familiar with the broad academic breakdown of the sciences into physics, chemistry, biology, geology, engineering, and mathematics. It is therefore convenient to examine the activities of scientific personnel in each of these areas, as well as medicine, with emphasis on the nuclear energy aspects of each.

Physics

The physicist is dedicated to investigating the laws that govern the universe. He explores gravity, motion, mass, energy, and the myriad interrelated ways that the world is constructed to gain an understanding of his physical surroundings.

A nuclear physicist concentrates his investigations on the atom. The subject of his research is, of course, incredibly tiny, and therefore invisible to him, but he studies the atom by finding out how it behaves when certain things are done to it.

To accomplish this, the nuclear physicist centers his day-to-day activities around equipment such as particle accelerators and nuclear reactors, which he uses to shoot nuclear particles into materials. What happens in these and many other processes provides him with information on the nature and behavior of atomic energy.

Within the framework of his interest, the practicing nuclear physicist may conduct basic or theoretical research to add to the body of scientific knowledge. He may design equipment to carry out new types of research. He may apply the principles of his science to improving the standard of living, as he did by developing the nuclear-power plants. He may work to improve nuclear weapons, to aid space travel, or to devise nuclear medical instrumentation for use by physicians. He has a place in one of the countless efforts that involve nuclear reactions and radioactivity.

Chemistry

The chemist studies the composition of substances.

For centuries man has known that various combinations and recombinations of substances produce other materials with different properties, and it is the chemist who combines and recombines.

A nuclear chemist, or radiochemist, specializes just as his name implies. He studies the effects of radiation on chemical substances, notes how chemical reactions are altered by the introduction of radioactivity, and analyzes the nature of nuclear energy materials and products.

When an experiment or a scientific application requires a purified compound, the chemist goes to work. When a substance is to be altered so that it takes on a different form, the chemist takes over. He develops better fuels for automobiles and space craft, better fibers for shirts and parachutes, better plastics for kitchens and submarines.

Biology

Biology deals with the structure and behavior of plants and animals: the botanist studies plants, the zoologist studies animals, and they both can use radioactivity widely in their research.

Radiation changes the pattern of plant behavior, and many botanists are vitally interested in the effect of various types of radiation on seeds and plant growth. Radiation can produce mutations, or basic changes, in growing things; thus, by selective breeding of desirable changes, it is possible to improve crops. Progress here is slow. Many millions of possibilities exist in the relations among the variety of plants, type and intensity of radiation, random chance, and other growing conditions, but already several new plant breeds have emerged, and other crops are bound to follow.

In addition to altering plants directly by radiation, the botanist can improve plants indirectly by using radiation: he can add radioactivity to fertilizer and evaluate the efficiency of its uptake by the plant to determine the most effective fertilizer for a particular soil or crop. The many, and sometimes seemingly strange, effects of radioactivity on plants and growing conditions provide a wide and fascinating field for the botanist.

As most people know, radiation also affects animal tissue. The zoologist wants to know how and why this is true and how varying conditions alter animal reactions to radiation. The research of the animal physiologist is basic to later medical applications of radiation to human beings. The veterinary scientist has the grave responsibility of testing radioisotopes, radiation drugs, chemicals, surgical procedures, and various combinations of these in animals to determine which can be used to diagnose or cure disease in man. He passes his findings on to the physician for further research only after he has made every possible test and evaluation. Sometimes he works with chemists, nutritionists, bacteriologists, and other scientists. What happens to animals could happen to human beings, and that is why physiologists watch carefully the animals that eat radioactive foods and study the offspring of animals that have been exposed to radioactivity.

Geology

A main interest of the geologist is the history of the earth and its ever-changing life, especially as revealed in fossil formations and deposits under the soil.

The geologist has a vital place in the field of atomic energy since he helps provide the raw materials for nuclear processes. The atomic age has made radioactive materials essential to life, and the geologist must locate valuable deposits, determine their extent, analyze their purity, and plan their extraction.

Engineering

The engineer is the how-to-do-it man. This technical man of action comes in many varieties—mechanical, electrical, metallurgical, ceramic, industrial, civil, instrument, and chemical, to name a few.

In the field of nuclear energy, the mechanical engineer shoulders the responsibility for designing, supervising construction, and guiding the functions of the giant accelerators, nuclear reactors, atomic-propulsion plants, space-ship engines, and other mechanical equipment that must be constantly devised, improved, constructed, and redesigned.

The electrical engineer devises the intricate circuits that keep the vast equipment working smoothly, works out complex controls for instrumentations, eliminates malfunctions, and formulates electrical processes for new installations and devices.

Metallurgical and ceramic engineers test and evaluate the strength, durability, and other characteristics of materials to be used in the fabrication of equipment, and they produce new materials for specific jobs. For instance, a metallurgical engineer might produce a space-ship shell that meets the requirements of (1) minimum weight, (2) maximum shielding from radiation, and (3) high strength. He may analyze various materials for use in atomic reactors, nuclear submarines, or medical treatment rooms where radioactivity is used. The ceramic engineer tackles similar problems, working with ceramic products rather than metals.

The industrial engineer is concerned with the efficient use of machines, materials, and men in production.

The civil engineer takes the plans of the atomic plant and designs buildings and facilities for particular processes.

The instrument engineer examines a job to be done and then designs the instrumentation to do it. He must understand what happens when his instrumentation is integrated into an entire system of production and control. For instance, the engineer who develops an instrument to be used in a gaseous-diffusion plant for the separation of uranium isotopes must understand the entire process of uranium separation.

The chemical engineer works closely with the chemist. If the latter develops a new plastic, the engineer decides whether to put it into large-scale production and, if so, how.

Mathematics

The mathematician deals with numbers and their relations to one another. Progressing from the 2-plus-2 stage into higher mathematics, this science is essential to all the others—from the simple task of counting test tubes in a cabinet to an incredibly complex mathematical idea.

The mathematician speaks the language of all sciences using his special tool. Without him modern technology would not exist because mathematics interprets and explains all other sciences.

However, when mathematics becomes too complex, the mathematician puts aside his pencil and paper and turns to an electronic computer. Since computers can carry out mathematical calculations from 100 to 1,000,000 times as fast as a human being, they are necessary today and will be essential tomorrow.

A computer, however, doesn’t replace the mathematician any more than an adding machine replaces an accountant. The mathematician must help to design the computer, understand what material to store in its memory banks, know how to feed problems into it, and be able to read the results that come out.

Medicine

The medical profession is dedicated to repairing and healing the human body. Although many mysteries still surround medicine, doctors are trying to solve these mysteries of the body through research.

A medical scientist may decide to specialize exclusively in the use of radioactive materials. If so, he is called a radiologist and is an expert in the use of radiation beams, injection of radioisotopes, and implantation of radioactivity into the body, as well as in the use of the more familiar radium and X-ray devices.

The practicing physician also, after receiving special training and licensing, may use radiation and radioisotopes as another tool in his little black bag. For instance, a suspected thyroid disorder can be diagnosed by following the behavior of a small, harmless dose of radioactive iodine in the patient. A tumor may be brought under control with the use of a strong beam of radiation directed at the diseased tissue.

Behind the physician stand teams of medical research scientists testing the effects of radiation on tissues and cultures and serums in the laboratory. They strive to increase knowledge of the medical benefits of atomic energy.

Nurses in nuclear medicine understand how to handle radioactivity. Pharmacists who enter the field prepare radioactive pharmaceuticals for clinical uses.

Related Fields

It is convenient to discuss scientific activity in the general categories of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine, but strict lines are not actually drawn around these areas.

There are in the United States today about 2000 individuals who are engaged in a profession that did not even exist twenty years ago: these are the health physicists, who are neither medical men nor physicists. They have backgrounds in physics, true, and they combine this training with training in physiology, botany, chemistry, mathematics, and instrumentation.

It is the duty of the health physicist to evaluate and control any potential hazard in the use of nuclear energy. The health physicist understands the effects of radiation on human tissues and plants. He keeps a constant check on radiation levels in installations where radioactivity is used; he foresees emergencies that might arise; he eliminates unsafe practices; and he assures that personnel working in nuclear energy fields are free from related hazards. The health physicist is a key figure in making the nuclear energy industry one of the safest in the world.

Another profession that spans the sciences is that of the technical writer or editor. In a laboratory he translates the notebooks of the scientist into reports. In an editorial office he edits manuscripts for publication. On a newspaper staff he translates scientific findings into articles for the public.

It is difficult, undesirable, and usually impossible, for a scientist to confine himself to his own field because all sciences affect one another. A chemist may use the tools of the physicist and become a physical chemist; a physicist may go in the other direction and become a chemical physicist. It is not uncommon for a chemical engineer to find himself doing the work of an instrument engineer, or the mechanical engineer to find himself doing the work of an electrical engineer, or both of them doing the work of a nuclear engineer.

The physicist, the chemist, the physician, and the engineer who once thought that outer space was the exclusive domain of the astronomer now find themselves solving reentry problems for missiles, stirring up rocket fuels, testing the effect of weightlessness on the body, and examining diagrams for space craft. Perhaps the botanist who today is totally concerned with the flora of earth will tomorrow find himself fingering a bit of fungus from Mars.