Doctor Wood. Modern Wizard of the Laboratory: The Story of an American Small Boy Who Became the Most Daring and Original Experimental Physicist of Our Day-but Never Grew Up

Before the war was a week old Wood had written a letter to Lord Rayleigh, suggesting a method of destroying Zeppelins, on which public attention was focused at the moment. The attacking plane was to fly across the path of the Zeppelin a little ahead of her and drop small flaming steel darts, making a barrage of fire through which the airship would have to fly. The darts were to be threaded on a metal rod, which was to be drawn back by a mechanism that would release them at such intervals that the distance between them would be less than the width of the Zeppelin. This would make a hit certain and a single hit would mean the destruction of the airship by fire. This was essentially the mechanism now in use and referred to as “a stick of bombs”.

Early in November, 1914, he sent to the French, through Ambassador Jusserand, the suggestion that brombenzyl vapor or some similar compound be released in enormous quantities over twenty or more kilometers of the Western Front, at a time when the meteorological department could guarantee a west wind for several hours. The slightest whiff of this vapor causes a smarting pain in the eyes and a copious flow of tears. It is impossible to keep the eyes open, and, he pointed out, all that remained would be to advance and capture the weeping Germans, for a man who can’t see, can’t shoot. He pointed out that it would not violate the Hague convention, as no permanent injury resulted. This was six months before the Germans started gas warfare on too small a scale with chlorine, and gas masks were speedily developed. Tear gas came into general use later on.

Wood says the idea occurred to him suddenly as he was walking from a meeting of the National Academy with Professor Pupin and Dr. Welch, both of whom laughed at the idea and said a gas would soon be dissipated in the air. Wood replied that the odor of a fish-fertilizer factory fifteen miles from East Hampton was suffocating when the wind was right.

Later in the war, when he was in France, he discussed the question with the French gas people and reminded them that he had made this suggestion in 1914. They agreed with him that had they tried this on a twenty-five-kilometer front they probably would have broken through.

Shortly after America’s entry into the war, a meeting of the Naval Consulting Board was held in New York at the request of Admiral Sims. It consisted of a group of civilian scientists, engineers, and also naval officers, who were expected to think up useful ideas for the Navy. Sims was about to sail for England to discuss antisubmarine activities with the British Admiralty and wanted to arm himself with the latest suggestions. Dr. Wood, though not a member of the board, had been invited to participate.

During the exchange of ideas, Dr. Wood suggested that experiments be made with what are now called “blisters”. His idea was to have an outer shell of thin steel subdivided into a number of air-filled chambers, welded to the hull on the outside of warships, below the water line. A torpedo would explode on contact with the outer shell and the gases would expand into the air space and lose most of their destructive force. He said the idea could be tried at small cost on some condemned hull, substituting a bomb for the torpedo. Hudson Maxim, the explosive expert of the board, leaped to his feet and shouted, “Professor Wood is all wrong. The compartments should be filled with water instead of air”. This was perfect nonsense, and there were cries of “No, no”.

Sims rapped on the desk and said that further discussion would be a waste of time, as the British Admiralty had informed him no antitorpedo defense that involved the building of any structure whatsoever on the outside of the hull would be considered.

The English battleships and cruisers were equipped with “blisters” in the latter part of the war, and they are shown in many photographs of ships engaged in the present war. The principle of antitorpedo air pockets is now standard practice in naval construction, but they are incorporated within the hull. It seems strange that Sims knew nothing about them at the time of the meeting in New York, if they were already in use in the British Navy.

It was at this same meeting that Wood amazed them all — and shocked most of them purple — by suggesting that it might be a bright idea to train seals to chase submarines! They laughed, and some member tried to start a new topic. But Wood stood up and claimed the floor. He was a great scientist, and so they listened to him — and so help me God, the British Admiralty later tried it!