Oil Company’s Grant For Atomic Research

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 16, 5 November 1948, Page 7

Oil Company’s Grant For Atomic Research

An intensified research programme in atomic energy and the fundamental structure of matter has been made possible with announcement by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Inc., that it has granted 250,000 dollars to- the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for basic studies of nuclear fission and its engineering.

The grant will be made at the rate of 50,000 dollars per year for five years and will be utilised at the school’s discretion to provide facilities and scientists for carrying out the actual work involved in solving a number of problems in nuclear fission. This work, related closely to the ultimate nature of ' matter and energy, will be carried on principally in the Institute’s laboratory for nuclear science and engineering, which is co-ordinated with research work in other departments, such as physics, chemistry, metallurgy, biology and chemical, . electrical and mechanical engineering. In announcing the grant, E. Brewster Jennings, President of SoconyVacuum said: “Believing > that intensive study of matter, energy and nuclear fission will lead to developments of great benefit, to civilised society, SoconyVacuum is happy to co-operate with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in these fields through the development of better techniques and the training of scientific personnel.”