OSSC Councilor (1960-1961)

-Romuald Anthony-

HISTORY OF OPTICAL EXPERIENCES June 9, 1999

    Born December 17, 1917 in Chicago Illinois of immigrant European parents, graduated from University of Chicago with graduate work in physics, I left the University Manhattan Project in 1945 for the Naval Ordnance Test Station in California.  I made my home in California until I retired in 1998 from EOI Inc., in Santa Barbara, California.  My daughter and son by first marriage are graduates of the University of California.  Between them I have five grandchildren.  My current wife, Barbara, and I have been married 24 years.

    My father died when I was a little child.  English was not a common language spoken at home.  It was necessary I learn English without public school special language classes.  My mother's family relatives in Europe were teachers in the gymnasium, and a civil engineer.  She repeated her dream for me as long as I can remember that I would graduate from a University.  Until she re-married several years later, my life was spent in public school, at a Catholic child care operated by nuns, and at a neighbors when she came home late.

    My stepfather had respect primarily for people who could earn a living using their hands.  He raised two sons on that principle.  I had inherited her dream which was inspired further by a fifth grade school teacher, in my first exposure to science.

    Ms. De Celle, was an attractive blonde.  I was seated near the front in all classes.  I remember clearly her legs crossed at the ankles as she set on her desk facing the class, while she waved her arms and discussed the sciences.  One day she spoke about the future possibility of atomic power...."if all the energy contained in a handful of coal were made available, it would power an ocean liner across the Atlantic"! I was impressed.  Much later people told me it was a Freudian experience.

    I attended Lane Tech HS about 1 1/2 years.  During that period I joined an after school Astronomy club.  Our big project was to grind and polish our own parabola.  Because of the depression, I stopped school and was put to work at the same plant as my step-father and his two sons.  Wages...10 cents / hr.  My early dream led me to attend an evening high school program at a local YMCA.  It cost $5 per semester.  It was discontinued for lack of students.  The instructor directed me to the private Evening College and High School program at the downtown YMCA.  I got a raise to 25 cents an hour then to equivalent of $6 a day so was able to pay my way.  At the age of 22, I graduated with savings for one year tuition at the University of Chicago where my interest was in atomic physics.  Then events interfered.

    In addition to scholarships, I needed to earn money to continue at the University.  By some good fortune I was hired by The Building and Grounds Department....10-12 pm.  During one summer I worked at Gaertner, polishing roof prisms for Karl Lambrecht who was in charge of the optical shop.  The University Optical Shop needed help as the military needs became evident.  Since I was the only student applicant that ever handled glass grinding and polishing, I was hired.  Fred Pearson was the skilled and well re-known optician who operated the optical shop.  There were three major responsibilities before the shop was placed under the jurisdiction of the Manhattan Project: (1) provide any optical aids needed by the graduate students, (2) provide 8 to 10 inch diameter reflecting diffraction gratings to the world of research, (3) complete the optical fabrication of a 48" Schmidt camera for McDonald Observatory.  As the war threat became serious, task (4) was to teach people in optical shop grinding and polishing under a government sponsored program because such skills were rare.  Of the above, (2) required mastery of operating the original A.A. Michelsons' ruling engine.  Correction to the driving screw to avoid ghosts images and changes in lines/inch required filing portions at the periphery of a cam attached to the screw at one end.  The machine was enclosed in approximately a10 X 10 foot room with hollow walls constructed like a Dewar but filled with oil for temperature control.  The interior copper walls had a line of tungsten light bulbs around the periphery individually thermostatically controlled.  It was odd to watch the lights flickering as the temperature of the room was automatically adjusted to a fixed preset value.  Often gratings had to be re-done when a storm in Lake Michigan would develop with waves pounding the shores affecting the lines in process of being ruled.  (3) task, the Schmidt primary had been completed leaving the corrector plate to be shaped when I joined.  There was a lot to learn.  Imagine with no coherent Laser sources, it took the utmost patience and skill to continue correcting the system.

    When the Manhattan Project operation began, activities (2) and (3) and (4)were halted.  Other more dangerous and challenging tasks were tackled and schedules became a vital part of the operation.

    Dr. George Monk directed the optics department and Dr. Neil Beardsley was assigned to supervise the optical shop.  Because he had no knowledge or familiarity with the operation of an optical shop I remained responsible and Dr. Beardsley observed and became fascinated with the work.

    There are four tasks worth mentioning.  (1) was to produce four quartz washers about one inch diameter that were of equal thickness to 1/2 wave of visible light.I accomplished this by using a retainer then grinding and polishing both surfaces simultaneously.  They were to be used to maintain two cylinders of great length co-axial as parallel as the mechanical tubes could be manufactured.  (2) called for optical polishing two 4 inch square bare beryllium pieces to 1/4 wave or less for Columbia University.  The danger of grinding and handling beryllium was apparently unknown.  Some 20 odd years later Columbia University people were looking for me to re-polish the surfaces.  An interferometric photo sent me revealed the surface retained the original flatness.  I refused.  I was beyond that stage.  (3) required the fabrication of a pair of precision glass Dove prisms about 6" along the hypotenuse to be used in a "hot" area as part of a periscope.  I believed it was designed by Walter Wallin with Dr. George Monk for use at Los Alamos.  A few weeks after delivery I was called to the conference room to meet with the various scientists from Los Alamos and Columbia because of an unexpected emergency.  I was shown the Dove prisms black as coal from the radiation exposure in the "hot" chamber.  It could no longer transmit visible radiation.  This was a first.

    Having worked various unusual materials without being warned of any danger from radiation, I was grinding away when Marshall walked in and ordered me to stop immediately and get a medical examination.  Yes, I had a blood count reversal typical of radiation exposure and were to draw a bone marrow sample from the sternum.  They hoped to puncture my sternum to further examine a sample of my blood marrow.  In reviewing some Medical Journals I found a number of deaths due to bleeding when the sternum was pierced through and punctured the aorta in the process.  To me that was too risky, I refused to be a guinea pig.  I left the University with the intention of continuing my graduate work at Berkely with Glenn Seaborg.  But my experience required I continue work in a military establishment if I were allowed to leave.

    I joined the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California.  I began feeling fatigued and a loss of drive which discouraged me from continuing my education.  There were several emergency projects which I was given to rescue.  Many test firings were worthless because the pilots wandered out of camera range in azimuth.  I developed a simple tri-colored projector labeled "Triptychrome".  The projected colors were red, amber, and green in azimuth which were visible to the pilot over 12 miles.  Because the center of target was rarely struck I placed the projector at the center.  All the remaining missiles available for the test were measured.