Piccard Tells of Plans For New Trip into Stratosphere This Summer To Investigate Properties of Cosmic Radiations

"Although I have not decided whether I will go up myself, I am definitely planning to arrange another trip into the stratosphere this July in Belgium," said Professor Augusto Piccard of the University of Brussels to a CRIMSON reporter last night. "It is also possible that I shall return to the United States next year and supervise an ascent near Chicago," Professor Piccard continued.

"The main purpose of the trip this summer is to investigate some of the properties of cosmic rays, such as their direction, penetrability, and intensity, which we have not fully determined in our previous two trips. The balloon will ascend to about ten miles. It undoubtedly could go higher, but we can obtain all the results from this height that we need.

"As I said earlier today, I see a great future for the airplane in the stratosphere. I would say today that the limit of the airplane's endurance is about 12 miles above the earth. If it had not been for the vibration and the fact that I did not feel capable of attempting the design of such a plane, I might have used one myself.

Professor Piccard later delivered a talk in the Rice Institute of Geographical Exploration. During his short visit here, he was also the guest of honor at an informal dinner given by Theodore Lyman '97, Hollis professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, at the Faculty Club. In his speech, Professor Piccard told the story of his two ascents. "The balloon was only partially filled with hydrogen, so that, as it ascended, it slowly assumed a spherical shape. We were forced to do away with netting, owing to the dangers from the pleats of the deflated balloon. Instead, the gondola was swung from a belt, encircling the lower portion of the gas-filled balloon.

"Our range of vision extended for 560 miles. Thus, if you ascended over Boston, you could see Philadelphia. Our one other trial was the fact that the sun started to melt the solder about the manholes, again putting us in danger of asphyxiation. Fortunately, we were able to descend before irreparable damage was done."