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January 9, 2005

'The Fly in the Cathedral': Make Way for Big SieneBy !"C#$!% &$()

ALTON and Cockcroft: the names don'tcarry quite the same historic resonanceas Watson and Crick. Yet the mostenduring work of rnest Wa!ton and"ohn Cockcroft ## s$!itting the nuc!eus of the atom ## can ho!d its own with the disco%eryof &NA's structure among the turning $oints of (th#century science) and now) with

*rian Cathcart's ''+!y in the Cathedra!)'' they e%en get their own ''&ou,!e -e!i)'' sort of.

/n that un!ike!y 0123 ,est se!!er) "ames Watson created a new kind of $o$u!ar science,ook) one that un%ei!s the human side of science ## the am,ition) $ride) i!! wi!! and$ossi,!e thie%ery that) argua,!y) $!ay as great a ro!e in re%o!utionary ,reakthroughs aso,4ecti%e e%a!uations of em$irica! e%idence do. Am,ition) $ride) i!! wi!! and $ossi,!ethie%ery might we!! ha%e $!ayed a ro!e at Cam,ridge in 015 ## 0 years ,efore Watsonand +rancis Crick wa!ked into the ag!e $u, there one !unchtime and famous!y crowedthat they'd 4ust disco%ered the secret of !ife ## ,ut you wou!dn't know it from the historica!record. *ack in the ear!y 015('s) young uni%ersity researchers in *ritain were sti!! takingdirection from the !ast %estiges of what Cathcart ca!!s ''the age of the gent!eman scientist)''

from $i!!ars of $ro,ity who manned their work,enches with a seeming!y thoroughdisregard for the outside wor!d ## the scientific equi%a!ent of a stiff u$$er !i$.

+or Wa!ton and Cockcroft) that $i!!ar was 6ir rnest 7utherford. At a time when$hysicists had ,egun to cha!!enge the $re%ai!ing mode! of the atom as a kind of $ermea,!e$udding fi!!ed with $!um!ike e!ectrons) it was 7utherford who arri%ed at an a!ternatemode!) one consisting a!most entire!y of em$ty s$ace. The outermost e!ectrons)7utherford $ro$osed) wou!d define the farthest ,oundary of this near %oid) whi!e anuc!eus) dense enough to def!ect a few incoming $artic!es yet com$act enough so that the%ast ma4ority wou!d miss) wou!d reside at the center !ike ' 'a gnat in the A!,ert -a!!)'' in7utherford's words. Or) in a $o$u!ar ana!ogy of the day) !ike a f!y in a cathedra!. /n 011

7utherford) ,y then the director of the Ca%endish La,oratory at Cam,ridge) assignedWa!ton and Cockcroft the task of catching that f!y and s$!itting it.

They weren't a!one. 6e%era! com$etitors in the 6tates were a!so trying to swat the nuc!eus)a $ursuit that inaugurated not on!y a new theoretica! era of nuc!ear $hysics) ,ut a newtechno!ogica! era of '',ig $hysics.'' The kind of equi$ment Wa!ton) Cockcroft and theircontem$oraries had to im$ro%ise wou!d ne%er again fit on one gent!eman's work,ench.Today some $artic!e acce!erators are so %ast) Cathcart writes) they ''may ,e seen from

T#( F*+ " T#( C$T#(%!$*

*y *rian Cathcart./!!ustrated. 5(3 $$. +arrar) 6traus 8 9irou. ;.

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s$ace.''

Cathcart de%otes much of the ,ook to the inner workings of !a, machinery) and for goodreason. -is two centra! characters were hard!y co!orfu!. Cockcroft was ''an ece$tiona!!y

good !istener)'' ,ut said so !itt!e that his chi!dren had a ru!e ''that &addy cou!d not !ea%ethe dinner ta,!e unti! he had uttered two who!e sentences)'' Cathcart re$orts. And whi!ethe *ritish author C.