| Description | He has read Larmor's Bakerian Lecture with growing enthusiasm. Some of it is beyond him, but meditation will put him on the right track, somehting he was not confident of in Planck;s work. He thinks that Larmor has gone as far in 'clearing up the radiation matter', and difficulties in the statistical method. He hopes that Larmor will publish more. Planning the new laboratory has fallen heavily on Bumstead and the building itself is also likely to be his task. By the time it is compolete he will have fallen behind the progress of science and will probbaly never catch up again. He asks for Larmor's advice on adding 'another man' to the department next year, 'as good a physicist as I can get'. He hopes the new appointment could direct students, so as to give Bumstead leave. He describes the nature of the post and discusses the merits of getting a man of his own age, 'such as [John] Zeleny or [Robert] Millikan'; or a younger man such as [Edward Montague] Wellisch. He asks Larmor about the wisdom of each course of action, providing further details. |