Nature of Our Research to

In the summer of 1942, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) changed completely the nature of our research. In July 1942, a group of imiversity scientists who were working on chemical warfare problems met in Evanston, Illinois this group later became Divisions 9 and 10 of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC). By that time many potential chemical war gases had been identified, synthesized by chemists, tested on animals for toxicity, and tested with respect to how well gas masks stopped them. The group discussed what else should be done. 

Professor Dickinson approved our acquiring the ability to carry out offensive chemical warfare as the best defense against the enemy initiating such warfare ( We are guarding a bridge, he had said, and he hoped it would not be attacked). 

The goal of our new line of work was quantitatively to understand the efect of terrain and weather on the persistence and danger of war gases. Our first job was to leam something about meteorology and to design and build portable 

New cars were not available for non-war work, but Dickinson was able to buy a new 1942 Buick station wagon for our war project. It had real leather seats, and real wooden panels on the outside. It was an impressive automobile. It had two fold-up seats between the front and regular back seat, so the car could carry eight people. The back seat could be folded down to give a large storage area. We loaded additional equipment in the storage rack on the top of the car. 

We discovered that the Los Angeles basin was especially vulnerable to gas attack. The average wind speed in the Los Angeles basin was low. During much of the year there was a pronounced breeze from the ocean to the interior during the day. This large-scale prevailing wind, which at its lower elevation had been chilled by contact with the cold ocean below, moved 

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