George O. Smith

“ For Howard Mangler objected most violently to having a "mere business man" running the delicate field of Operations, while Phillip Newton felt that physicists should stay in their white ivory tower and let business men run the details of business. ”

“ Atop the glass spiral was a flat circle of aluminum.
"Radioactivity is a state of instability in the nucleus," explained Velikof.
Mangler nodded. Velikof had said nothing that could not be obtained from a fundamental book on atomics, circa 1935.
"The condition known as half-life obtains because of the statistical nature of atomic structure. Any single atom is not radioactive; it is only in an instable state in which it contains more than enough energy to hold it together. When it ejects this excess energy, it is radioactive only for that instant. Then it becomes a stable nucleus. ”

“ Newton said softly, as he waved Mangler aside. "Which comes under my jurisdiction. I'll handle it."
"All right, but don't let him get away with that machine."
"Business is business," smiled Newton. Then to Velikof, he said: "Business is one of the things we Americans specialize in, you know." ”

“ So I figured that the only reason for making a laminated, cylindrical core was to conceal some minute crack—the sort of crack that would be visible on a smooth surface. The sort of crack made by a pair of cunning trap doors. Two samples, elaborately sculped into remarkable similarity, one radioactive and one dead. God knows how many times Velikof has done this bit of legerdemain at fifty Gee a clip. Safe, too, because no man would care to handle the hot sample close enough to mark it. ”

“ But when a statistical quantity of such atoms are present—and any gross matter no matter how minute will contain a statistical quantity—there is always some number of atoms in the radioactive state of ejecting the excess energy. Some do it quickly; others take their time.
"In order to remove the excess energy all at once it is necessary to control the nuclear particles themselves."
"Which—up to now—has not been done," suggested Mangler.
"Right," beamed Velikof. "An instable atom can be considered as a billiard table with the balls in motion. The stable state consists of the balls at rest. ”

“ Then Velikof spent many minutes weighing, measuring, and testing the sample, transferring mass, volume, and so forth to the proper dials on the box. He re-tested the sample before the counters and rechecked his dial-settings, which he did not have to change.
"You will notice that the radioactivity has not diminished in the half-hour I've used to measure the sample," said Velikof.
Mangler chuckled. "The intensity there," he said with a wave at the counters, "is such that any short-term half-life radioactive you could get would have started off hotter than Oak Ridge itself. Go ahead." ”

“ The core was laminated, the ends of the laminations showed across the flat dome of the cylinder. The coil of wire came up even with the top of the laminations so that little of the surface of the cylinder could be seen. The bottom was a flat circle of metal large enough to extend beyond the coil; it made a neat base. Rising from the metal base were three metal struts that passed up (almost touching the outside of the electromagnet) to a superstructure above the flat face of the laminated core of the magnet. It was obvious that the sample would rest on this flat face. ”

“ Open battle did not join every day, sometimes it smouldered for weeks before breaking out in a welter of directives, memorandums, and hot words. But any long period of quiet brought a foreboding of imminent war to the office force ”

“ Mangler grunted. "It's not the constant use that demands extra equipment. It's the fact that it takes time for a man to run down what he needs, borrow it, set it up, and then return it."
"You'll have to continue that way for a bit ”