Traveling Russians Say America Technologically Equal to U.S.S.R.

A group of 11 visiting Soviet scientists yesterday said that as far as they knew, the U.S. was "technologically equal" with the U.S.S.R.

The Russians also commented that an exchange of students between Harvard and Moscow Universities "would be a fine idea." They made their remarks in an informal interview with CRIMSON editors during a tour of the newspaper's office.

Speaking through a translator, Aleksander Dymov, a Moscow University professor, said that he thought it would be beneficial for Russian students in nontechnical as well as technical fields to spend a year here. University students should also spend time studying in the Soviet Union, he added.

The men were all members of the Russian delegation to the World Metallurgy Congress in Chicago. They have been touring the country and stopped off in Cambridge to visit Harvard and M.I.T.

Their brief look at the University included a luncheon with members of the faculty and a tour around the Yard. They spent most of their time at the Gordon McKay Laboratory of Applied Sciences, where they saw the research being done by University metallurgists.

The visitors seemed quite interested in the physical layout of the University and the appearance of the students. Dymov felt that American colleges are "generally similar" in appearance to those of the Soviets. He added that Russian and American college girls "look the same."

The visit of the scientists, all leaders in their field, was the second half of an official government exchange.