CROWTHER CLAIMS U.S. MINDS MORE PROBING

"Americans are much more experimental in their attitude toward science and public affairs", said J. G. Crowther, one of the foremost science writers in England and scientific correspondent in London of the Manchester Guardian, in an interview shortly after his arrival from England yesterday afternoon, speaking of the profess of science in Europe and America.

Mr. Crowther was invited to come to Cambridge to give a series of lectures on "The History of American Science," the first of which will be given this afternoon at 4 o'clock in Hunt Hall and will concern "The Relation of Benjamin Franklin's Discoveries to the Conditions of his Time."

This attitude toward great scientists is of comparatively recent birth. Hitherto the study of scientists has been directed primarily toward the facts of their discoveries, Mr. Crowther pointed out, and it has not touched upon why such a discovery was made in one place and at one time rather than at any other time and place, or what effect such a discovery had on current thought.

Mr. Crowther attributed the experimental attitude shown by Americans toward science to the fact that Americans are generally more scientific-minded than English, and added that science was given much more room in American papers than abroad.

He stated that American science has increased a great deal in recent years, while most of the eminent German scientists had left that country. Among the greatest recent discoveries in this country are the laboratory production of heavy hydrogen and the positive electron.

Press is Practical

Mr. Crowther was interested in the projected broadcasting of scientific lectures from Harvard, but added that "one must not expect too much until the technique of broadcasting lectures has been worked out." He feels that the public is more likely to understand a well written newspaper article, which one may read over and over, than a lecture over the radio where the listener can neither see the lecturer nor have him repeat baffling phrases.

He did not express himself as to the part science would play in a future war