"Rex, Life Atom"

Despatches from Chicago last week claimed that Calvin S. Page, of that city, had been nominated for the Nobel Physics prize of 1924. His book, Rex, the Life Atom* has been selected, it is said, by the Swedish Royal Academy of Science as "the best book of the year in the scientific world"--a rather extravagant tribute. A letter from the nominating committee praised the logical development of the theories, which, if generally accepted, will revolutionize scientific thought. Nomination for the Nobel prize is not always equivalent to the award, and it is unusual for any announcements to be made before the Fall of the year in which the award is made.

Mr. Page is virtually unknown to the scientific fraternity. His name is in no book of reference. He received degrees from the University of Illinois and taught mathematics in Iowa colleges. For the last ten years he has lived in Chicago, carrying on private researches in physics. Page is sponsored by Capt. Thomas Jefferson Jackson See, of the U. S. Naval Observatory, Mare Island, Calif., Einstein's arch-antagonist (TIME, April 21).

Page's theory is based on current atomic theory, such as Bohr's (TIME, Nov. 19), but with the unique addition of a special atom which he calls ReX or Rex. This atom is a repellent force present in all chemical combinations. It explains the disintegrative processes which break up compounds by overcoming cohesion. The velocity of the Rex atom varies, and at various rates determines its identity as light, heat or electricity. Electromagnetic (radio) waves, color and light are identical in nature, though not in degree. There is no ether. Gravity is not a mass attraction, but a phenomenon resulting from the impact of the repellent force on the earth's surface. Page holds that celestial bodies are normally circular rather than elliptical, as Kepler and his successors have taught.

Certain phases of Page's theory are generally accepted today, but much of it runs counter even to the Einstein doctrines, which are increasingly commanding the assent of physicists and astronomers. All recent Nobel prize-winners --Guillaume, Einstein, Bohr, Millikan-- have been men who, if not hitherto internationally known, have been favorably regarded among their own scientific compatriots. Most scholars will require more objective evidence before they will approve so unaccountable a choice.

*REX, THE LIFE ATOM--Calvin S. Page-- Science Publishing Co., Chicago.