Science in Christian Perspective

Letter

[On Annihilation of anti-protons]

I would like to point out that a statement in the article by John C. Sinclair in the March 1956 journal is now out of date. Mr. Sinclair states on page 16 of the journal: "Electron and positron pairs can unite to produce high energy light rays, and in turn can be formed by such rays; but there is no known way that neutrons and protons can be created or be annihilated." In the November 1, 1955 issue of the Physical Review, Chamberlain, Segre, Wiegand, and Ypsilantes report on the creation of anti-protons by the high-energy proton beam of the Bevatron at the University of California. Subsequently, the annihilation of these antiprotons has been observed also ((Chamberlain, et al, Phys. Rev. 101, 909 (1956). In addition a popular account of this discovery has appeared in the June 1956 issue of the Scientific American.

These comments apply also to the article by Rusk and Schweitzer in the same issue of the Journal. They make a statement similar to that of Sinclair's at the top of page 12.

It should be emphasized that the discovery of the anti-proton is in no way a point in favor of the continuous-creation theory of Bondi, Gold, and Hoyle. Energy is required to create the anti-proton whereas the continuous-creation theory requires that protons be created from nothing. Thus, the discovery of the anti-proton has no direct bearing on the validity of the continuous creation theory.

John A, McIntyre

P.S. Just recently, the anti-neutron has also been discovered at the University of California.

High Energy Physics Laboratory Stanford University Stanford, California September 14, 1956