December 28, 1979

11 Bowdoin

Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Mr. Snelson:

Thank you very much for the catalogs and photos you sent me, and for the very friendly letter. The tensegrities are beautiful, and their construction fascinating.

I find myself still unable to resonate with your model of the atoms. They do not seem to me to catch the essentials of any atom, as the dial at Wells caught the essential nature of the moon orbit about the earth and the earth’s spin. For me the atom is a dynamic structure, full of motion, even if its states are stable. I am just not able to write the piece you ask with any enthusiasm. On the other hand, I have no objection at all to your trying to express your view of the atom. It is the case that we know an awful lot about atoms, even quantitatively, in all detail, and it is a difficult place for the intuitive geometric view to compete.

Your ortho-para hydrogen has some of the view we hold, namely the spin direction change. Perhaps it is true for the bent bonds of molecules, too. But I wonder how you connect your models with the sources of our knowledge of bond bending and the like?

I will take the liberty of showing your materials to one or two colleagues here: maybe the task will appeal to one of them.

Sincerely,

(signed) Philip Morrison

Philip Morrison