 Words at war presents science at war. This method of mass killing, death from the sky, from the sea, from under the sea. Is this the true end of science? Is this the end Leonardo sought? Galileo, Newton, the Curies? Science? What the devil is science? What is science? Science is a purely human preoccupation, subject to the limitation as well as to the capacities of the human brain. Indeed, science is only man, man adventuring, man plotting into the unknown. Uwe, are you there? Uwe, are you getting me? Okay, getting you fine. Are you ready to start? Already, old man. Already here? Right. Well, take this description down, will you? Uwe, wait. Never. Take measure. It's not one of those metal rules now. I know it. Tables, mooring gear. And that. Uwe? Uwe, careful, Uwe. I'm not too excited. Wait. We're ready here. Presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the Council on Books in War Time, brings you another in this series of radio adaptations of outstanding war books. Tonight, the story of men taming, controlling, and enslaving the forces of nature. Science at War by the historian of the laboratories, George W. Gray. The terror of the Black Knight, the shriek of death raining from the sky. The shriek of death come quickly. Science? The War Department announces the development of a new super blockbuster and an aerial torpedo packed with explosives. German's new secret weapon was revealed today on the Anzio beachhead. It is a radio-controlled miniature tank loaded with a thousand pounds of explosive that is automatically... This new plane carries more punch than anything in the sky. Besides the combined power power of its cannon and machine guns, new turbo superchargers raise its altitude. Science? Is this science? Is all this mad rush to and from laboratories nothing but a race for death? Who can kill quicker, better, more? Science. Sometimes I believe that the world would be better off without it. Yes, without anything called science. Let me answer that. If we are to fight, what are we to fight with? Surely not with outmoded tools of war simply because there is a tradition which accepts them as chivalrous. If war is accepted, it is no more immoral to fight with aerial bombs than with sticks and stones. And so we fight this war with all the power at our command. We fight this war with science. The Admiralty London, late in November 1939. Yes, yes, come in. Captain Pesco. Yes. Signal, sir. Thank you. Lieutenant Winters. Sir. Look here. Lord, another. Yes, another. And you have the same area too. Come along. Gentlemen, please. I have a signal here. Listen. His Majesty's ship that destroyed Gypsy blown up at 409 minutes in the Thames Estuary. Ship broken too and sank in four minutes. Forty men missing. The Gypsy. I've got a cousin on her. The Thames Estuary, another. Split in two, like the others. Third ship sunk in those waters within a week. Submarine, sir? I doubt it. Much too close to our shores. Too well patrolled for you boats. Mines? More likely. But ships that hit ordinary mines usually blast off their prowl. But here in this case they break in half. Break a midship. It strikes me that the explosion is striking from underneath. Right at the belly of the craft. I had noticed that. True incident, don't you think? Captain, did you hear Hitler's last speech? No. He does get to be a bit of a boy, you know. Well, he boasted of Germany's new secret weapon. He's always off on some such wild idea, idiot. I don't think so or not in this case, sir. I think he has something. A real secret weapon, a mystery weapon. I'll venture a guess at what it is. Yes? A mine. A magnetic mine. The nature of these sinkings proves it. It has to be. Germany has perfected a magnetic mine. Then on Thursday morning, November 23, 1939. Mine experimental department. Lieutenant Commander Uvery speaking. Yes, sir? Where? Schubriness? Oh, yes. Yes, I know the place. I see. Oh, yes. Yes, of course. I'll do it myself. Hmm. I understand. Magnetic, eh? Right, oh. No keys, tools or other things made of steel or iron. All right, I'll see to that. Yes, getting along immediately. See you there. Bye. With no ideas to whether the mine can contain some special device for exploding, if any attempt be made to disassemble, Uvery told his staff exactly what he proposed to do. Stationed his crew at a good distance off and spoke to them by telephone. These precautions were necessary because if he should be blown up, others should have some knowledge of what not to do on any subsequent occasions. The crew listened to him describe his activities. Immediately he unscrewed a metal flap, set flush against the metal cylinder of the mine. Then there was a silence for a moment. Uvery, what's happened? Uvery! Uvery, answer me! Uvery, answer! Gentlemen, I think we are ready to proceed. I think we should hear first from the examining committee. Lieutenant Winters, if you please. Yes, sir. Our committee has examined the object found, that we are of the unanimous opinion that it is a magnetic mine. Hitler's secret weapon. The total weight of the object was about 1200 pounds, 650 pounds of which was explosives. The construction of the mine shows that it was dropped from a plane and parachuted into the water. The detonating apparatus was operated on the well-known principle of terrestrial magnetism. Lieutenant Winters, but tell me, has your committee any suggestions as to how we can mitigate this type of explosive? Not mitigate, sir, but eliminate. Very simple, sir. If the ship is not a magnet, then it will not attract the mine. Our suggestion is to demagnetize every United Nations ship. Is that merely a suggestion or a possibility? Neither. It's a practicality, sir. By coiling a wire around the hull of any ship and sending a current of electricity through it, we neutralize the magnetic field. Steel ships denuded of their magnetism have no more influence on magnetic mines than the Columbus's Santa Maria would have had. Gentlemen, our defense against Hitler's great secret weapon is nothing but a coil of wire. If Germany had held her magnetic mine in reserve for the projected invasion of Britain, had suddenly used it in connection with extensive air and naval raids, it is possible that its use might have been decisive. But prematurely revealed, Britain was able to dispose of its menace in a fairly short space of time. Thus, what German science created for war, British science defeated. Truly, this is science at war. I passed a long white-walled building, an architect's dream. Here is a cathedral of science, I said. This is a monument to man's genius. Then I found out, in that factory, that cathedral, science was making poison gas. Wait now, before you blame. Listen, Germany, the fall of 1950. I warn you, gentlemen, and mark my word. Do not use this gas unless you are absolutely certain you can end the war within a matter of weeks. We asked you here only to tell us about this new gas, not to advise the general staff on how to conduct a war. General Ludendorff, I am merely attempting to show you the entire picture. This chemical known as mustard gas, it is a terror. Our enemies have far more raw materials than we have, and unless you can get a quick decision, they will have time to manufacture quantities of this gas, far beyond anything we can do. Mm-hmm, Herr Dokthal, you hold a very estimable position in the German state. No one denies that your process of extracting nitrogen from the air has made it possible for us to manufacture vast quantities of explosives. For that you have been rewarded by being appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Durham. But you presume so, when you come before this military board and give us gratuitous advice. But I am merely trying to explain. Hover, can you make mustard gas? Lots of it. Yes. Then make it. Good day. This was the chemist's war. Chemical warfare reached its apex with the introduction of gas as a method of destruction. As early as December 1914, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute became headquarters for these preparations. You are sent for me, Dr. Hover? Yes, Otto. This new formula has just come in from an industrial chemist. It is to be tested as a war gas. Oh? You will take it over. All right. Well, you don't like the assignment? Not particularly. Why? It seems to be a terrible thing to do. More terrible than war? A terrible refinement of war, put it that way. Who knows, Otto? Why is it more inhuman to use gas than it is to use high explosives? Thus incapacitates a soldier for a time, but shells rip off his limbs, cut him in pieces, I know. But the nature of it... Otto, we are in the surface of His Majesty's imperial government. We are given a task to do. We must do it, yes. We must. I will go to work at once. The laboratory of Bobbelden-Hist is out of secure as started to examine the new chemical formula. A man with very little liking for his job could go proceeded slowly and carefully. But the mystery of chemicals is baffling. A trained worker, perhaps one of the three topmost chemists of the day, Sikor made one false step, one false movement, and German gas warfare claimed its first victim, Otto Sikor, chemist. But under Fritz Haber's direction, the work went on with more familiar gases. Finally, chlorine was chosen for the initial test. April now, April 22nd, 1915. The perfect spring day with the sun shadowing deeply the ruins of the little Belgian village of Ypres. A mild breeze blew in over no man's land. A breeze that promised summer soon, maybe a trip to Blighty, home that is, England. And into the nearest pub I'll go, sop up all the beer in Sikor, and blom if I don't go out and find another pub. Why are you down there? Hey, what? Why there? Come out of that chocolate now. Quick about it, too. Blummy, me down with the spring fever and that voice ruins it all. Come in. Hey. So what is it? What is it? Look there, that smoke coming this way. What are you making? Smoke? Oh, there, that yellowish stuff. That's right. Is that the trouble? Man, you're rooted us out of our role to look at some smoke. Hey, youngster, don't you know better than to disturb men who are enjoying a well-underrest? Hey, what's the matter with you? It doesn't look clear, though. It's coming right at us. It's that stinking German tobacco that fritters their smoke in. You can smell it. Can't you smell it? Maybe I'd better have thrown back. Hey, now. This is Major Schultz. Come on, post. Give me the curdle. This is Schultz. A curdle I have just done a report for my advanced sector. They say that gas we used has torn a hole right open in the British front. Yeah, they are completely helpless, 20,000 troops at least. No, no, I have no orders to advance. I have no reinforcements. All I have is three companies. Curdle, I do not know that is why I'm calling you. What do we do? The way is open, but I have no orders. What am I to do? Germany might conceivably have won the war that April day. The way was open. But the Germans were as much surprised as the British, more so. They were paralyzed by the power of their own weapon. They made only a timid advance. Meanwhile, behind the Allied lines... Can you tell us how it happened, Marshal French? Well, it was at first impossible for anyone to realize what had happened. The smoke and fumes hit everything from sight, and hundreds of men were thrown into a comatose or dying condition. And within an hour, the whole position had to be abandoned. 20,000 of our men were rendered helpless. 5,000 of them died. Can we use those figures in our news stories, Marshal French? Absolutely not. Well, sir, what steps are we taking to beat this new type of warfare? I have turned the entire matter over to the Royal Society. Scientists are already at work on the problem. So quickly and so efficiently do the forces of science work in wartime that within a matter of days, before the German army could reorganize and press their advantage, the Allied army was supplied with crude gas masks made of cotton pads saturated with soda and photographer's hypo, makeshift respirators. But now gas warfare was on in deadly earnest. All manner of gaseous death came to the battlefields. But the weather turned on the German army. The days out of every seven, it blew from the west. Blue Allied gas attacks across a demoralized imperial army. Ludendorff himself admitted that the lack of gas discipline among his troops accounted in a great measure for the final defeat of Germany. The dog had turned on its master. And so World War I, the chemists' war, came to an end. But then science kept finding new and better ways to destroy. It became like something out of fantasy. Frankenstein's monster. The world lost control of science. Science began to control the world. Airplanes, mines, tanks. He that has the most, the best, he shall rule the world. Is this why man master's nature? To destroy his fellow man? Why? Science has never made a war. Someday science may prevent war. But today science is at war. Fighting against an aggressor, wise in the ways of science. And we fight fire with fire, battle fire, hotter. A roaring blast furnace, democratic power. Libya, 1941, a British reconnaissance squadron. Can you make out this map, Bentley? Let's see now. I think it should be about here. No, more likely here. Oh, it's worse than being in the water, this desert. Not a landmark, nothing. Well, the firing is coming from the west. Better head out that way. It looks all right. No cover for snipers, clear. Cut straight west then? Right. Here we go. You think anyone has ever been here before? For thousands of years, I mean. No, I doubt it. It looks as peaceful and as deserted as the day it was created. No, chap, this is virgin land. Nothing has ever been... A typical landmine is a pie-shaped package of destruction with a crust of thin steel and a filling of TNT. Buried underground, sown by the thousands, for months they baffled the British 8th Army fighting in the desert of Africa. The problem was given to scientists. A device to locate landmines, eh? Well, now, that shouldn't be too difficult. No, fairly simple as a matter of fact. I think I can have the design ready by... Shall we say Tuesday? Yes, by Tuesday. Is this it? Yes, Terrell, this is it. But it's nothing but some wire in the box and a set of earphones. Does it work? Suppose we see a demonstration, what? Yes, yes, yes, by all means. Do you have your house keys on you, sir? Keys? Well, yes, yes, I... Don't tell me, don't tell me. Suppose I tell you, mind? No, no, fine. I'll just let me plug this wire into the connection. So, meantime, you might remove any loose change you have on you or any metal besides the keys. Yes, yes. Do you remember the Navy's problem with the magnetic mine, sir? Yes. Well, this is more or less the same thing in reverse. Now, I take this little coil and start passing it over the various pockets on your uniform. The coil is electrically charged and creates an electromagnetic field. That is, it actually sends out invisible waves. Now, when these waves sense the presence of metal, the result is a sudden surge of energy, faint currents that are magnified by the vacuum tubes in this box and are carried by means of the wire to the earphone. Like that. Your keys, sir, are in your upper left breast pocket. Am I right? Right. Strange place for keys, what? Yes, very strange. Make up the specifications for your device at once. We want mass production to start immediately. What do you call it? Well, I haven't given it much thought, but from the way it works and looks, I think we ought to call it an outdoor carpet sweeper. A carpet sweeper. And by Jove, he did it by Tuesday. A case in point. What good is it? Of what possible use can a magnetic mine sweeper be to the peaceful progress of civilization? That's what I mean. Listen, October 1941, New York City. Coming, coming. Hi, Dr. Moorhead. Sam, Berman. Well, come on in. Well, I've got it here, Doc. All finished. Think we can try it out? Gosh, Sam, I'm sorry, but I've just had a cable from Hawaii. They want me to deliver a series of lectures before the Honolulu Medical Society. I'm getting a plane out of LaGuardia in half an hour. Well, say that is nice. A little of that sunshine will do your world a good. Nice rest, too. Yes, yes, I can use it. Say, I've got my car downstairs. Let me drive you to the airport. Well, we'll have to hurry. You take that bag. I'll manage the rest. Mm-hmm. Oh, uh, say, Doc, what about this? Oh, uh, better leave it here. We'll get to it just as soon as I return. Yes, uh, just put it in that closet. Okay. Oh, no, no, wait. I think I'll take it with me. Yes, it won't take much room. Bring it along, Sam, might as well. Gentlemen, may I introduce Dr. John J. Moorhead of New York City, who will address us on the subject Treatment of Wounds, Civil and Military. Dr. Moorhead. First, I must thank you all for being kind enough to invite me to Hawaii in December. It's as near to paradise as I think I'll ever venture. Well, I'm going to talk to you about a number of things. The importance of the new plasma transfusions for shock. The value of some of the latest sulfur compounds in the prevention of infection. The importance of cutting away all crushed and dead tissue. That was Friday, December 5th. Two days later, Dr. Moorhead was called upon to do more than lecture. He was summoned by the military to help the torn and tortured that lay in the wake of Jap treachery. He went to the army hospital. No use arguing, Dr. Moorhead. We've decided it for you. You are in charge. You've been telling us how to do these things. Now, let's see you go to work. Very well. Instructions? Everyone suffering from shock is to be provided with immediate blood or plasma transfusion. That's being done. All crushed and damaged tissue is to be cut away. And the wound is to be left open for three days. Open, but infection... Haxivoon with crystals of sulfonylamide or sulfothiazol. Dostum with sulfonamide and sedatives by mouth. All right. Now, show me to the operating room. I'm ready. Clamps. Clamps. Sponge. Sponge. All packed. Dostum. All packed. There. You can take over, doctor. Dr. Moorhead. Yes? Boy, in operating room C. Machine gun bullet lodged in the spinal canal. We can't locate it by X-ray. My box. The black box I brought with me this morning. Where is it? You left it in my office. Get it quickly. I'll meet you in the operating room. Clamp the earphones on me, please. Yes, sir. Now, this electric locator was made for me by Sam Berman, an electrical engineer in New York. It works on the same principle as the electric minesweepers. Turn the current on, please. Now, just by passing this rod over the body, by creating an electromagnetic field, we can detect the presence of metal. I hope we can, anyway. I haven't had much time to use the apparatus. Theoretically, though. Here. Yeah, right here. Quick. Park the spot. That's where the bullet is. Now. Now, let's get it off. Science is exploring many strange trails in its quest for new applications for war-born knowledge. The timer that sets off the bomb may someday turn on the stove. The super-gasoline that flies the flying fortress may someday power your low-cost car. The electronics that guide out planes will pave the airways of peaceful commerce. But science has made war horrible. Back in the old days. Back in the past. The past. If you can abolish synthetic chemistry, radio and air transport, restrict motion picture themes to the homeland, put quotas on the dynamo, drastically limit the number and horsepower of gasoline, diesel and steam engines, if you padlock all research laboratories, you may be able to push the next generation back into the 19th century of nostalgic memory. But remember, there were wars then, too. And there came another war in 1914. No, the past is gone. We have eaten of the tree of knowledge and there is no turning back. Our home is a planet, one world. We are one human race. And the future must be ours together. And the future, mankind's future, rests in the brains of men. And science. Science at war. Or science at peace. As the 40th program of Words at War, we have presented an adaptation of George W. Gray's book, Science at War.