Missed Swiss

Dr. Fritz Zwicky of Caltech, astronomer, physicist and inventor, is one of the world's leading experts on jet propulsion. Early in World War II, he left astronomy and joined a group of scientists who founded Aerojet-General Corp. of Azusa, Calif. Zwicky became research director, and under his leadership Aerojet developed JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) for rocket blasting heavy-laden bombers into the air. After the war, Zwicky picked the brains of German rocket experts and did outstanding work on rockets, missiles, torpedoes and submarines. In 1949 he resigned as research director of Aerojet, but stayed on as leading member of its all-important technical advisory board.

Though he started teaching at Caltech in 1927, Dr. Zwicky is a citizen of Switzerland, and he refuses to take out U.S. naturalization papers. Naturalized citizens of the U.S., he insists, are second-class citizens, subject to special rules, e.g., their citizenship can be taken away for various reasons, such as staying out of the country for more than two years. "I would apply for American citizenship tomorrow," says Zwicky, "if you did not have two classes of citizens. If I am more free as a Swiss, I stay Swiss."

Last week Zwicky found himself in a curious situation. Acting under Paragraph 2-203 of the Armed Forces Industrial Security Regulations, which refuses clearance to aliens who have not applied for naturalization, the Department of Defense lifted his clearance. Zwicky, his head packed with vital secrets, could have no further contact with the classified projects that he has been supervising.

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