Out of the uproar and hysteria which the press whipped up so gratefully around Vassily Kopeck, only two facts emerged. The first was that no one had any clear idea of his mission as a diplomat or a scientist.
His fellow physicists in Britain had taken him on trust because he was clearly more knowledgeable on their subject than most visiting firemen but his personal contribution to research was a mystery. He had listened attentively, asked astute questions and even drawn attention to relevant work which was being done behind the Iron Curtain. The information he provided was not secret to the initiated but there had been times when he was undoubtedly a valuable catalyst.
The eminent inarticulate men with whom he had been in contact found it difficult to explain their work even to science c
