Weisskopf Will Travel to Russia For International Science Talks

Victor F. Weisskopf, Morris Loeb Lecturer in Physics and professor of physics at M.I.T., revealed last night that he will participate in a conference on high-energy physics in Moscow from May 14 to 20.

Weisskopf, long a believer in freer exchange of scientific ideas between the U.S. and Russia, was one of 14 physicists invited by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Ten or 12 are expected to attend, according to the Atomic Energy Commission.

The State Department has approved the plan and will issue passports. Weisskopf said that he has already obtained a visa from the Soviet Union. He will leave next week for Oxford University. where he will lecture for six weeks before going to Moscow.

The M.I.T. scientist expected that the meeting would "discuss mostly the work of the Russians in recent years." Several members of the Soviet Academy will probably give talks on different aspects of their work, Weisskopf said, and the content of these talks will be evaluated in group conferences.

Weisskopf added that he had been asked to speak, but at the present time he had reached no final decision on the topic of his talk. He said, however, that he was "almost certain" that he would address the meeting.

The National Science Foundation said last night that it would pay travel expenses to and from Moscow, averaging about $2,250 per scientist, for all those granted passports. However, the Foundation indicated that it does not yet know how many passports have been applied for or granted.

Most of the men invited worked on the atomic bomb during the war, and it is believed that during their two-week stay in Russia they will tour Soviet nuclear installations. Weisskopf worked on the "Manhattan Project" under J. Robert Oppenheimer '26 for several years.