NEWS
The American Scientific
Affiliation
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 5
December,1969
ASA NEWSLETTER BEGINS THE DESCENT FROM MOUNT EVEREST
ANNOUNCEMENT: ASA BREAKFAST SCHEDULED FOR AAA$ MEETING
Place: Lenox Hotel, Exeter at Boylston St., Boston
Menu: Juice, two scrambled eggs, bacon or has, potatoes, toast & coffee (served in 2 to 3 minutes if no more than 30 show up!).
"After World War II, Mr. Everest participated in the founding of Moody
Institute of Science, the organization for which he serves as Director
of Science and Production and world-wide distribution of Moody science
films. Everest is a member of Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu, a member of
Acoustical Society of America, senior member of Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers, fellow of Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and founder member and fellow of American Scientific
Affiliation. In 1959 he was given an Honorary D. Sc. by Wheaton College."
BOOKS...
Proceedings of the Symposium "The Christian and Science" held at Calvin College on
April 23-25, 1969 (see August issue of ASA News for program), have now been published
at the low rate of $1.75 (below listed. Copies of these Proceedings are available '
cost) from Dr. Vernon J. Ehlers, Department of Physics, Calvin College, Grand
Rapids, Michigan 49506. According to Vernon the Proceedings contain some significant papers, "and all ASA members are
encouraged to obtain
a
copy.
...BOOKS, BOOKS...
D. Lee Chesnut retired as an engineer in 1963 after 43 years with General Electric
and began a speaking tour under auspices of the Christian Business Men's Committee
International that had placed him before 300 audiences by May, 1964. Even though
he generally lectured on "The Atom Speaks--and Echoes the Word of God" (the title
of his 1951 book published by Eerdmans), he found that his audiences almost invariably raised the question of evolution in relation to spiritual concepts (on the
average, says Lee, 11after about three-and-one-half minutes of discussion"). So he
spent the next four years studying up on the subject and talking to many of his
friends about it (he is a member of the Bible-Science Association and Creation
Research Society as well as ASA). Now he has published a 53-page pamphlet entitled
The Monkey's On The Run, available at 75C per copy, postpaid, from the author,
2301 West Shadyglen Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85023. (We appreciate the autographed
copy, Lee. Hope you sent one to the Book Review Editor of the ASA Journal.-Ed.)
A. Kurt Weiss of the Department of Physiology of the U. of Oklahoma Medical Center
in Oklahoma City, writes of his interest in getting a remarkable book into the hands
of Jewish scientists and other leaders. The book is The Death and Resurrection of
Israel by Arthur W. Kac, M. D. Both men are officers in the Hebrew Christian
Alliance of America, and I would take Kurt's word for it that the book is "prophetic
in nature and non-offensive." The price is $3.95 in hard cover or $2.45 in paper,
but for presentation to Jewish friends some copies could be made available free of
charge from Dr. A. W. Kac, 3606 Oak Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21207.
...
AND MORE BOOKS
Donald W. Munro of the Department of Biology of Houghton College, Houghton, New
York, asks us to publish an item on request of the ASA Executive Council. It is a
reminder that the ASA library collection is now housed in the Houghton College
Library and that books can be obtained from them through interlibrary loan (zip code
14744). The librarian has requested that people not write to them directly but ask
through another library. The books are presently being catalogued and assimilated
with Houghton's own large collection on science and Scripture.
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS HEARD FROM
Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship met at Bedford College of the University
of London for its regular September Conference, with "Science and Ethics" as the
theme for the meeting. Somehow those British chaps manage to get papers written
and circulated beforehand to everyone who indicates that he hopes to be present,
leaving almost the whole time of the conference for discussion. Papers circulated
this year included "The Basis of Ethics" and "The Justification of Moral Judgments"
by David Booth and a group of RSCF people at London, plus several short papers on
particular problems such as euthanasia, homosexuality, drugs, etc., by different
RSCF groups including Oxford and Leeds.
Bible Science Association, Southern California Branch, held its 6th Annual Creation
Seminar on October 11 at Biola College in La Mirada. Speakers and topics were:
Bolton Davidheiser, PHD: "Evolution and Christian Faith?
John N. Moore, EdD: "Neo-Darwinism and Society"
"Evolution, Marxism, and Communism"
George F. Howe, PhD: "Evolution and the Problem of Man"
John G. Read, BS in EE: "A Look at Lunar Findings"
Charles H. Willits comments on Harold Hartzler's suggestion in the last issue of
ASA News (that Christians get involved with social problems), saying he's worried
about inviting participation in the program of the Council for a Livable World.
Charles suspects CFALW "is more interested in coming to terms with the communists
than in building strong defenses against communism"--and that suspicion bothers
him. He does suggest adding to Harold's list the Christian Action Foundation,
Box 227, Hawthorne, N. J. 07507, saying it "may not be a nationally known organization but in this area it is encouraging Christians to take greater interest in the
society in which they live."
ASA MEMBER PLAYS ROLE IN CALIFORNIA COMPROMISE
It's hard enough to figure out what's going on in California when you live there.
It's almost impossible when you have only an isolated story from the Los Angeles
Times to go on. But if we interpret the Times story of November 14 about the State
Board of Education correctly, ASA member Vernon L. Grose may have made a valuable
contribution to a difficult problem. The problem is what to specify about evolution in an official framework for science teaching in the California public schools.
That would be a problem almost anywhere, but given the variety of entrenched points
of view and the public passions so characteristic of California it was bound to be
a mess rather than just a problem out there. No statement drawn up by scientists,
by religionists, or by any combination of the two was likely to get through public
hearings without stirring up anguish and anger.
Adoption of the framework, designed to serve as a guideline for the development of
content in new elementary science textbooks, was held up for a month when objections were raised by conservative board members that the theory of evolution was
being presented as fact in the document while the idea of the world's creation by
God was left out. The conservatives wanted to reject the document for further
study, when Vernon Grove, vice-president of a management consulting firm in Santa
Barbara, spoke up from the audience to propose additions that would avoid a "dogmatic approach" to evolutionary theory and would "balance knowns with unknowns."
His two paragraphs introducing the subject of evolution were unanimously approved,
as follows:
"All scientific evidence to date concerning the origin of life implies at
least a dualism or the necessity to use several theories to fully explain
relationships between established data points. This dualism is not unique
to this field of study but is also appropriate in other scientific disciplines such as the physics of light.
"While the Bible and other philosophic treatises also mention creation, science has independently postulated the various theories of creation. Therefore, creation in scientific terms is not a religious or philosophic belief. Also note that creation and evolutionary theories are not necessarily mutual exclusives. Some of the scientific data (e.g., the regular absence of transitional forms) may be best explained by a creation theory while other date (e.g., transmutation of species) substantiate a process of evolution."
Not everybody in the audience was satisfied, as might be expected. "Included among
these were three Santa Ana housewives who asked that a group called the Creation
Research Society be named to a committee to revise the framework." Legal questions
about references to the Bible in the framework were raised by others, and Richard
Smith, chairman of the State Advisory Committee on Science Education, said he felt
a religious theory of the world's origin ought to be presented as part of social
sciences instruction and had no place in the science framework.
OPPORTUNITIES IN MANHATTAN
Evans Roth writes from Kansas State University that he is beginning to feel like an
operator of an employment agency. This is partly because he's on the pulpit committee of Manhattan's First Baptist Church but largely because he hopes to recruit
16-19 new staff over the next three years for the Division of Biology he heads.
He thought maybe some ASAers would be interested in this announcement: "Recruitment
is now in high gear to expand our 40-man faculty. We are out to build a biology
faculty that has even more 'go' than our football team. Our new $3.4-million
building will be ready by spring, and we have just received an $800,000 Special
Development Award from NSF to expand the Biology faculty in the College of Arts and
Sciences. Applications are invited from persons of any race, color, creed, and rank
if research productivity has been demonstrated and if teaching and perfecting of
one junior to graduate-level course can be expected. We are looking for biochemists,
developmental biologists, geneticists, immunologists, and invertebrate zoologist,
and molecular biologists. Send curriculum vitae, reprints, and reference names to
Dr. Evans Roth, Director, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan,
Kansas 66502."
... AND OPPORTUNITIES "NEAR MANHATTAN"
Jim Buswell writes about opportunities in a Christian school nearer to that "other"
Manhattan. He serves on the Board of the St. Luke's School, a non-sectarian dayschool for boys in grades one through twelve, located in New Caanan, Connecticut,
and owned by Mr. Emilio B. Knechtle, Headmaster, "a very much alive Christian."
They are seeking a biology teacher, a math. teacher, and an English teacher, and
would like, if possible, to find teachers "whose coamitment to Christ is a daily
reality in their lives."
Jim asked about policies for placing such announcements in ASA News. We've had
such a hard time trying to make our first deadline, Jim, we haven't gotten around
to making policies! I guess our general policy is to make specific policies only
when necessary--and we're not yet swamped with classified advertisements. ASAers
interested in applying for one of these teaching positions should write to Headmaster Knechtle at the St. Luke's School in New Caanan for more information.
ANYBODY HERE KNOW SPALDING?
Glen Underhill has been reading Baird T. Spalding's The Life and Teachings of the
Masters of the Far East, a five-volume work reprinted by DeVorss & Co. in 1962.
According to Glen, the writing is an outgrowth of an expedition mounted in 1894 by
eleven American scientists, and "Spalding reports findings in the archeological,
metaphysical, and spiritual realms which, if true, have immense significance for
both science and Christianity." He continues, "The ASA Journal has often been helpful in clarifying issues and in presenting material on the background and authenticity of various books. I wondered if any study has been made into these writings
of Spalding or the associated expeditions so that the membership could be aware of
them and rightly judge their significance."
All we know about Spalding would it in a can of tennis balls--and that's not even
the same Spalding. ASA News would welcome an answer to this inquiry, or--if it's
too hot to print in a family magazine like this--you could write directly to Glen
Underhill, Riverdale, Nebraska 68870
FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BUBE
During the week of November 2, our peripatetic Journal editor Dick Bube touched
down in both Michigan and Massachusetts. In Michigan he spent two days at Adrian
College at the invitation of ' Frank Fishman, Professor of Physics. Talks included
a session on "Electrons, Holes and Photoelectronic Properties of Crystals", a public lecture on "Heard Any Good Objections Against Christianity Lately?", a chapel
talk on "Who Am I? How Can I Know? What's the Matter With Me?", and a meeting
with the seminar on Modern Religious Thought. Then on to Boston, following the
rainstorm that persisted for the entire week, where an evening of fellowship and
discussion was enjoyed as usual with John (and Shirley) OseRchuk, George_Horner,
and Jack Haas of Gordon College. Wild goings on were reported at the dinner at the
Colonial Inn in Concord, especially after Shirley arrived, followed by the hospitality of the Osepchuk home. In spite of a two-hour hangup due to fog in Boston, Dick
arrived back in sunny California in time to catch the end of the day-long Symposium
on "God, Man and Our Envirorment", put on by the San Francisco Bay Section of ASA
in cooperation with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at Stanford University.
KEEPING UP WITH THE YAMAUCHIS
The Hearn family Christmas letters often don't all get mailed out by Easter, and
sometimes--like this year--we just give up and plan to send two years' worth in
next year's envelope. Ed and Kimi Yamauchi do it right. They not only get their
Christmas letter out or~_time but they even publish a summer edition to bring their
friends up to date. They did this year, anyway--partly to announce a change of
address. In September, Ed assumed a new post as Associate Professor of History at
Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Founded in 1809, Miami is the second oldest
college in Ohio and now has about 11,000 students. It was alma mater for president
William Harrison and for professor McGuffey who wrote the famous reader.
Ed has been busy speaking and writing this past year. His articles appeared in
Bibliotheca Sacra, Christianity Today, and Berytus (of the American University at
Beirut); last article was the publication of a Mandaic bowl text from the Yale
Babylonian Collection. His reviews have appeared in Archeology, Eternity, and the
American Historical Review, as well as the ASA Journal ' . This summer he was working
on a book on Biblical archaeology edited by John Montgomery, to be published by
Lippincott.
At the end of last year Ed's stepfather died suddenly. After being deeply depressed,
his mother has been comforted by becoming a Christian. She was baptized this past
Easter.
THE ASA IN ETHIOPIA, AND ELSEWHERE
Our thanks to Ray Hoisington of Rockford, Illinois, who sent us a newspaper clipping about
Larry Smith returning to Rockford with his family after a year of service in Ethiopia. Larry was a biology teacher and track coach at Guilford high
school when he and his wife, a former school nurse, learned through a missionary
conference of the need for "technical missionaries" overseas. In 1968 they packed
up their four daughters ranging in age from 8 to 11 and moved to Addis Ababa, where
Larry taught at the Good Shepherd School, serving 300-400 children of missionaries
from 22 African countries. In one year Larry was able to install a new science
program including laboratory work and field trips--and organize a physical education
program. At the end of the Smiths' stay, the students held a meeting and elected
Larry "Teacher of the Year."
Roland N. Icke, a surgeon in Coalinga, California, reports on the trip of a lifetime with his ~ife Muriel this summer, which also included a week in Ethiopia, helping Dr. Harold Adolph, a missionary-surgeon with the Sudan Interior Mission at
Soddu. Roland felt that the medical need in Soddu was beyond description, with
pathological conditions becoming far advanced before people came in for treatment.
Before their African adventure the Ickes had attended a week of meetings in Oslo,
Norway, with the International Christian Physicians. There they had the rare opportunity to meet some doctors and their wives from behind the Iron Curtain who were
observing medical practice in Norway, and who told of the difficulties of being a
Christian in various east European countries.
Roland also enclosed a copy of a hymn he has written and copyrighted in 19691 entitled "His Body Was Broken." He and Muriel felt there was no hymn in general use
written specifically for the service of Communion--so he wrote one. He would be
glad to supply copies for use in your church. Write to Roland N. Icke, M. D., 193
Washington Street, Coalinga, California 93210.
WE NEED A LITTLE HELP-FROM-OUR FRIENDS
That's what the Beatles sing in one of their albums, and we know what they mean
after putting together our first issue. No news is bad news for ASA News. Ginny
and I want to thank those of you who've helped already by sending us items about
your own activities or those of other ASAers.
Stan Hillis gets a particular word of thanks. He didn't wait to write--he called
us long distance from Austin, Texas, one night! Stan has more irons in the fire
than a cowboy conclave at brandin' time. He still makes his living reading chest
plates as a radiologist, but he has gone back to school (at the U. of Texas) to
work on a PhD program in educational psychology. While he was serving as a teaching
assistant for one section of a psychology course, the professor died, giving Stan
the opportunity to take over the full teaching role--the most exciting and stimulating thing he's ever done, he says.
Now, hold on thar, podnar. You might think that isn't much of a comparison for a
practicing M. D. to make, even if he did use to be a Marine Corps pilot in WWII.
The statement carries a little more weight when you find out that Stan's other
"hobby" is racing automobiles. I don't mean watching 'em--I mean driving 'em.
Yep, Stan has a competitive racing license and is currently zipping around the Texas
tracks in a 150-horsepower Mustang. He sent us a newspaper photo of himself bouncing
his Mini-Cooper off the guard rail at Austin Dragway Park before going on to finish
that race second in his C-sedan class. His two oldest boys are automobilophiles,
too. Dan is taking a VW maintenance course after getting out of the Navy. Mark,
still in high school and on the honor roll, builds dune buggies in the garage Stan
rents on the edge of town as a place to work on his racing cars. He didn't say if
8th-grader Tim has sprouted wheels yet. I've known families whose life centered
around their swimming pool, but it sounds like the family pool Stan and Priscilla
are presiding over is a car pool!
PERSONALS
Melbourne E. Holsteen has migrated with his MA in anthropology (from the University
of Minnesota) to Manitoba, where he is teaching at the University of Winnipeg. His
courses include general introductory anthropology and a course on Peoples of Africa.
Richard E. Johnson was co-author of a paper on "Kinetics of leaching of lead glass
by EDTA" in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, L2 (6), 318-322 (1969).
Dick is Associate Professor an Coordinator of Chemistry Programs at LeTourneau
College in Longview, Texas. He says his department has 15 chemistry majors this
year and a good record of placement of graduates in advanced study and in industry.
(ASA Executive Council take note: we have a specialist in "getting the lead
out".)
Ralph D. Lowell - of North Park Colleget Chicago, has also published a recent paper
with an eye-catching title: "Regeneration of complete hydra from isolated epidermal
explants", Biological Bulletin, 137, 312-320 (October, 1969). (Ralph, is this as
revolutionary--or as evolutionary--as it sounds? I thought only eggplants came from
explants.)
Robert W. McIntyre became Instructor of Sociology at Gorham State College of the
University of Maine, Gorham, in September. He is teaching courses in sociology of
the family and sociology of religion.
Carl R. Miller is now studying for the PhD in Radiological Health in the Nuclear
Engineering Department at Georgia Tech. He left his position as Radiation Safety
Officer and Civil Defense Instructor at the University of New Hampshire to move to
Atlanta in September.
John W. Montgonery, a Fellow of ASA, is now also an Honorary Fellow of Revelle College at the University of California in San Diego. He will be teaching in the Department of Religion during the winter quarter of this school year. John published
two books with Zondervan Press during the past year: Ecumenicity, Evangelicals,,
and Rome; and Where Is History Going?
Willis
A. Olson is at North Park
College and Seminary this academic year on sabbatical leave from Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. It's a family affair, with Willis
and his daughter Joan attending the seminary and his younger daughter Nancy attending the college. Willis left the two Covenant churches he served in Stillwater,
Minnesota,.and Hudson, Wisconsin, in the hands of Rev. John Lind while he's away.
Lee Edward Travis of Fuller Theological Seminary was honored recently as the founding father of the electroencephalograph (EEG) by the International Congress of
Electroencephalographers. Dr. Travis was responsible for the first action potential
research in the U. S. while at the University of Iowa.
Carel M. van Vliet and his family are brushing up on French this year. Carel is
on leave at the Centre de Recherches Mathematiques, University de Montreal, but
says we shouldn't be misled by that word "Mathematiques"; he is doing physics in
Montreal just as he does ordinarily at the University of Minnesota--only there it's
in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Carel says he has yet to do physics in
a department of home economics, but we guess he probably could. (We were surprised
to learn that a friend of ours, a PhD in chemistry from Oxford, had never heard of an
egg-beater. "Oh", he said as the light dawned, "you mean a whisk with counterrotating impellers!")
Henry D. Weaver, Jr., Professor of Chemistry at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana,
must have been taking his job as Director of International Education at Goshen
College downright seriously. First he spent a year in Lima, Peru. Then ASA News
reported on his activities in several other Latin American countries. Now we hear
he has been named Fulbright Lecturer in Chemistry at Tribhuvan University in
Katmandu, Nepal. Since Hank is a Fellow of ASA, he must be one of our most egregious
Fellow Travelers.
R. Ward Wilson has begun work on a PhD in psychology at the University of Florida
in Gainesville. Ward not only reported the title of his MS thesis from Eastern
Michigan University ("War attitudes, belief structure, and trust-trustworthiness"),
but even squeezed in an abstract of it on the postcard: "Vietnam War Hawks are
more closed-minded than Doves but militarists are not much different from pacifists
on the Dogmatism Scale; Vietn;m Doves, pacifists, and open-minded EMU males are
more cooperative in the Prisoner's Dilemma situation than Hawks, militarists, and
the closed-minded."
Ralph D. Winter recently participated in a Missions Executives Conference in
Wheaton, Illinois, and in November was scheduled to attend the Latin American
Congress on Evangelism in Colombia. Ralph's background as an engineer-educatorlinguist-missionary was outlined in the August issue of ASA News. His book
Theological Education by Extension has been published by William Carey Library, Inc.,
the third section is being published in Spanish by Editorial Vida.
NEW MEMBERS
California
Fred W. Lott, 111, 50A-2117, L. R. L., Berkeley, Calif. 94720. Grad. student and
Research Assistant at Lawrence Radiation Lab., Univ. of Calif. BA, MA in Physics.
Rank: Member
Andrew J. Woods, 2243 Erie St., San Diego, Calif. 92110. Works for Gulf General
Atomic - Physicist. BA, MS in Physics. Rank: Assoc. Requested
Connecticut
Stanley G. Chamberlain, 15 Daley Crescent, Mumford Cove, Groton, Conn. 06340.
Research Engineer for Raythson, Marine Research Lab. BS in Physics; MS Elec. Engr.;
E. E., in Elec. Engr., PhD in Elec. Engr., Appl. Ma. Rank: Member
Gary E. Molgard, 250 Booth Hill Rd., Trumbull, Conn. 06611. Sr. Analytical Engineer
for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, E. Hartford, Conn. BS, MS in M. E. Rank: Member
John E. Kroll, 511 Whitney Ave., New Haven, Conn. 06511. Grad. Student at Yale
University. BS, MS in Engineering. Rank: Member
,Neil Clifford Turner, 177 Centerbrook Rd., Hamden, Conn. 06518. Asst. Crop
Physiologist for Conn. Agricultural Exp. Station. Rank: Member BS, PhD in Ag. Sci.,
Agronomy.
Georgia
Mrs. Roberta Jones James, 2982 Victoria Circle, Macon, Georgia 31204. Biology
teacher at Stratford Academy. AB in Biology, ME in Science Ed. Rank: Member
Illinois