THE ATOMIC AGE: Cosmic Defense

Reports trickling out of Russia last week said that Stalin had taken three steps on the atomic bomb:

¶ He told Scientist Peter Kapitza to “build whatever you need” for basic atomic research.

¶ He assigned Pavel Sidorovich Maltzev, an engineer, to take charge of research on manufacturing problems which would be encountered later. Maltzev would have the help of 34 German scientists.

¶ He ordered Lazar M. Kaganovich, chief of Soviet heavy industry, to develop an atomic bomb in two years, a defense against it in six months.

Kremlin jitters may have planted a Paris report that Russia had “infra-cosmic lays,” which could explode any atom bomb from 12 miles. The report added that “safety belts,” studded with “infra-cosmic ray” generators, are to be scattered from 60 to 100 miles around strategic cities and industries.

U.S. scientists were skeptical about the details, but not about the possibility that Russia, or other nations, might develop far more dreadful weapons (see SCIENCE).