Research in atmospheric electricity at Stanford University

Professor Emeritus Joseph G. Brown is continuing his study of the analysis of the diurnal variation of the potential gradient (Terr. Mag., v. 40 , pp. 413–424, 1935), obtaining interesting confirmation of his theory of the effect of turbulence and convection on the observed local gradient. N. E. Bradbury and Russell A. Nielsen have devised a new method for the accurate determination of electron-mobilities. Results in hydrogen are being reported in the Physical Review of March 1, 1936, and experimental data have been completed for nitrogen and the rare gases. It is now proposed to extend the method to the study of electron-mobilities in air and oxygen in view of the importance of these gases in electrical discharges.