(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To The Editor of the CRIMSON:

In the November 9 issue of the CRIMSON, there is an article which describes the construction and purpose of the new directive radio station on the tower of Jefferson Laboratory. Although the article contains a number of correct statements, it also includes some definite conclusions which are not justified by the amount of experimental information which has been obtained. Furthermore, the reporter failed to mention the valuable work performed by the American Radio Relay League, the Mount Washington Observatory, and numerous other collaborating groups. In the headlines and text my personal contribution is greatly overemphasized, without any mention of the graduate student who has done most of the work.

Under the circumstances, we find it necessary to call attention to the fact that this article was not authorized by any member of the Department. The information was obtained by the reporter during an informal conversation with a graduate student. The student gave a good description of the work in progress; but I am quite sure that he did not realize that such an article would be published without any opportunity for the correction of errors in interpretation, and without consultation with any member of the faculty. If the article had been sent to us for approval, the objectionable features could have been corrected without loss of news value or increase in length.

The subsequent history of the article is instructive. Several of the Boston papers copied the story; and on November 13, a new version appeared in a well-known morning paper. The "rewrite" editor rephrased the erroneous conclusions in a more emphatic and specific form, and attributed them directly to me. In fact the entire text now conveys the impression of a direct personal interview; and I find it necessary to send out letters of explanation to all of our collaborators, in order to reduce the damage to my own reputation, and to the reputation of the University.

Of course, we do not hold the CRIMSON responsible for the recent "improvements" in the tale, and we will be glad to cooperate with the editor whenever possible, but we wish to call attention to the difficulties created by unauthorized scientific articles of this nature. Harvard items are frequently copied by distant papers, and it is not difficult to create an entirely false impression of our scientific ethics. Harry Rowe Mimeo, Assistant Professor of Physics and Communication Engineering.