Student Electrocuted in Physics Lab Experiment

Peter L. Harbury 3G died yesterday of an electric shock received while he was preparing an experiment in wave propagation in the troposphere at the Vanserg Laboratory on Divinity Place.

Artificial respiration by fellow workers in the laboratory and by police and fire department rescue squads failed to revive Harbury after the 9 a.m. accident.

Dr Briant Decker of the Hygiene Department pronounced Harbury dead after all measures, including insulin injections, had been exhausted.

Leonard C. Wirtanen 1G, who was in the lab at the time of the accident, reported he saw a flash while Harbury was working over his laboratory equipment. Harbury said "I'm all right. I'm all right," according to Wirtanen. Then he collapsed.

Harbury, a graduate student in Applied Physics, was working in a field which requires high voltage but relatively low current. Shocks are somewhat frequent in the electronics laboratories but ordinarily low currents do not prove fatal.

Dr. Leo Myles, Cambridge medical examiner, said, however, he was convinced electrocution was the cause of death.