January 31, 1930

Professor J. E. Mills

National Research Council,

Washington, D.C.

Dear Professor Mills:

The grant-in-aid for which I have made application is to be used to pay half the salary of Mr. Sturdivant for the year 1930-31, during which time he will act as my assistant in carrying out the experimental determination of the electron distribution in crystals. The problem involves a very great amount of routine measurement and calculation; namely, the preparation of gnomic projections of thirty or forty Laue photographs taken with the crystal in various orientations and the assignment of indices to the Laue spots; The x-ray photometry of fifty or more spots on each photograph; and the reduction of the relative to absolute intensities and calculation of the Fourier series coefficients for several hundred terms. This laborious work must be carried out with great care, and can be done only by a man of experience and training.

In view of the importance of the problem, I consider it fortunate that Mr. Sturdivant is willing to apply himself to it. I would be willing to turn over the problem to Mr. Sturdivant, who would then carry on most of the experiment work also, in case that he were granted a fellowship for this purpose. But the apparatus which has been constructed here can not be moved, so that he would still have to remain here; and I understand that this runs counter to the policy of the Fellowship Board of the National Research Council.

In view of the progress which has been made on the problem, and also of Mr. Sturdivant's willingness to act in the capacity of an assistant, I feel that the suggested program is better.

Very truly yours,

[Linus Pauling]

LP:M