of the
American Scientific Affiliation & Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation
VOLUME 34 NUMBER 4
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1992
NEWSLETTER of the ASA/CSCA is published bi-monthly for its membership by the American Scientific Affiliation, P.O. Box 668, 55 Market
St., Ipswich, MA 01938. Tel. 508-356-5656, FAX: 508-356-4375. Information for the Newsletter may be sent to the Editor: Dr. Walter R.
Hearn, 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. Q 1992 American Scientific Affiliation (except previously published material). All rights reserved.
GETTING AKAMAI
We're getting there (in Hawaiian,
akamai means "smart" or
wise we think-Ed.). Crossword fans already know Hawaii's
state bird, nene (usual clue:
.'goose"). State flower: hibiscus,
though orchids abound on the Big
Island, 2,400 miles west of San
Francisco. The 50th state itself consists of a cluster of seven major islands plus over 100 smaller ones
stretching 1,500 miles farther west.
Appropriately, the name of the state
fish stretches across the page: humuhumunukunukuapua'a. It is seldom found in crossword puzzles'
though ahi Cyellow-fin tuna) is.
We learned all this, of course, because we're headed for the 1992
ASA ANNUAL MEETING at the
University of the Nations on the
Kona coast of Hawaii, the Big Island. The meeting begins the
evening of July 3 1, and ends Aug
3, with two days of one-of-a-kind
field trips on Aug 4-5.
Alas, the Weary Old Editor
won't be able to bring you an eyewitness account of the trip up
14,000-foot Mauna Kea, the air
there too rare for people with
"heart conditions" (WOE is meEd.). The five astronomical observatories atop the inactive volcano
were directly in the path of the
total solar eclipse of 11 July 1991.
The rugged road to the summit
was closed off two days before
that eclipse, we heard, but Kona
was considered the prime spot in
the world for viewing the rare
event. An 88-inch telescope in one
Mauna Kea observatory has been
probing distant galaxies as the huge
new 200-inch Keck telescope went
into place this spring.
There's plenty more to see,
though, including a couple of active
volcanoes. More to learn, too. Only
recently did we catch on that the
U. of the N. is located in a small
town called Kailua. The name Kona refers to a 40mile coastal strip on the
westernd!y side of the island, the only region in the USA where coffee is
grown commercially. Hilo, the
state's second largest city (after Honolulu, on Oahu) lies on the
eastern, wet side-where the orchids grow. With massive mountains
in between, the two sides are connected by highways around the
island's edges; the southern road
runs through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, between Mauna Loa
and Kilauea. Spectacular flows from
Kilauea still drop fiery-red lava into
the sea. The southern tip of the island is the southernmost point 'in
the whole USA. Hawaii has been a
state since 1959.
Both Kailua-Kona and Hilo have
airports. The Keahole airport, 9
miles N of Kailua, has a few direct flights from the mainland,
many from Honolulu. The Kohala
coast N of the airport is full of
swanky resort hotels. A beachfront
hotel right in Kailua named for the
first Hawaiian king, Kamehameha
the Great, will be the site of
ASA's Sunday night luau. (The
word for "feast" originally referred
to the taro leaves in which kaukau
was wrapped to cook in an imu.)
BOTTOM LINE
After tracking down the cheapest
fare and registering for the
1992 ANNUAL MEETING, the
WOE has invested about $750 in
this trip-not counting macadamia
nuts (up to $1 an ounce over
here). Despite the inexpensive accommodations, the cost from back east
could add up to $1,000-though a
special airfare deal could make a
big difference.
Now, here's a special deal: Why
don't those of us who attend add
a 10 percent "surcharge," donating
that $75 to $100 to ASA's operating budget? For that matter, why
don't all the ASA/CSCA members
who'll save $750-1,000 by not
going contribute to ASA a tidie of
what they save that way?
We don't know the Hawaiian
word for "good idea" but that level
of giving would bail Ipswich out
of some pressing financial problems.
It would also keep ASA executive
director Bob Herrmann and the
Council from berating themselves
for risking a "far-out" Annual Meeting in a year that turned out to be
one of lingering recession rather
than economic recovery.
The theme, "Looking to the Future and Across the Globe," will
remind participants of how important ASA's mission is, but that
mission belongs to all of us. We're
all participants. ASA seeks grant
funds for special projects, but it's
important that members "own" the
worldwide work of ASA. A witness needing to be made needs to be supported. Nobody else is doing
what we're doing, and nobody else
should be expected to support it.
This Annual Meeting could lead
to new initiatives. After pondering
papers and brainstorming in discussion groups, ASAers will spend two
days together traveling over the island in cars and four-wheel-drive
vehicles. As we think about new
ways to serve Christ in science, we
must consider costs to ourselves
along with benefits to others. Doing
what we do now requires our regular giving; doing more will cost
more.
This is being written just after a
special issue of Science looked
ahead to the "Earth Summif' in
Rio de Janeiro. That U.N. Conference on Environment & Development, UNCED, was expected to lay
out the costs of not doing something about global problems. (The
world is hurting; science is in trouble; the U.S. is in bad shape; the
church needs awakening. Wow,
what a time to be counted as servants of the world's Creator and Redeemer! - Ed.)
ECONOMIC GROWTH
This may also be a good time to
remind ourselves of ASA's Long
Range Fund, established in our 50th
year (1991) to begin building an endowment for the next 50 years.
Dues, subscriptions, and sales of
ASA publications simply do not
cover all expenses of running the
Affiliation. So, in good or bad economic times, meeting the general
operating budget depends on our regular giving. The Long Range Fund
offers another way to "take care of
the Lord's business." Putting a bequest to ASA in our wills, for
example, is a sort of "pray now,
pay later" method of contributing to
ASA's future witness.
Colleges and universities, expecting their alumni to do well
financially, continually mail out attractive brochures that describe
methods of "estate planning," "tax
avoidance," and "planned giving."
Contributing shares of stock that
have appreciated in value is a common suggestion. Lawyers can set
up family trusts and resort to other
gimmicks. With other priorities on
our agenda, ASA hasn't gotten
around to preparing brochures on
Planned Giving. Maybe we don't
need to. Just mind your alma
mama, but use some of the methods she suggests for long-term
giving to ASA. Sic semper economicus.
A BUTLER DID IT
t would be a crime, almost, not
to follow that story with this one
about ASA member Frank Butler of Topsfield, Massachusetts. Frank
is a chemical engineer who retired
as president of Eastman Gelatine
Corporation a few years ago. He
was the focus of a two-page article
by Mary Beth Grassi in the Feb
1992 issue of the Massachusetts
Episcopal Times. The article was, really about Christian stewardship of
wealth. Clue: Frank, senior warden
of his parish, Trinity Church in
Topsfield, is an active member of
a national group called Ministry of
Money. That organization helps people "grapple with their ambivalence
toward money" so they can develop
14 an authentically Christian perspective" on wealth.
Frank and his wife Ruth have
gone on a mission to Calcutta to
work with Mother Teresa, and have
led a mission to Haiti for the Ministry of Money. Such "reverse
missions" are intended to show
Western Christians how others live
with much less. Frank says that
"Jesus dealt with people individually, but his purpose was simply to
get rid of whatever stands in the
way between God and people."
That roadblock is often money,
which, after the kingdom of God,
was the subject Jesus most often
spoke about.
Long before he discovered Ministry of Money, however, Frank
Butler was following his father's example of frugality and stewardship,
tithing the first 10 percent and saving the second 10 percent before
spending anything on himself. As
he made his way up the corporate
ladder, others expected the Butlers
to move to a more lavish house
and drive a more expensive car,
but that had little appeal. Now that their needs are simpler, he's having
a hard time breaking the saving
habit. He still considers tithing a
sensible base for giving, "not as a
requirement but as a joyous repayment." But he considers his whole
life a stewardship issue because,
"Everything has been given to me:
my job, my family, even the breath
I breathe."
According to Frank Butler,
there's no mystery to the way a
Christian can go about setting priorities. He recommends: 1) Having a
daily devotional, to listen to God;
2) Sharing our wealth (not simply
41giving it all away"); 3) Keeping a
journal, of feelings, not merely
events in one's life; and 4) Starting
a support group, to share goals and
hold each other accountable. Getting
in touch with Ministry of Money
(2 Professional Drive, Suite 220,
Gaithersburg, MD 20879) might not
be a bad idea, either.
MORE OR LESS
Potential candidate H. Ross Perot
X
got it right, more or less, when
he called American presidential campaigns "side-shows" that have little
to do with picking the best person
for the job.
In election years we hear extravagant claims that candidates can
accomplish anything voters might
want-at no additional cost. We
don't know what kind of president
Perot would make, but he at least
knows how to say the three words
that rank behind only "Please,"
"Sorry," and "Thank you" for promoting civilized discourse:
"I don't
know." In answer to a reporter's
early question about some policy
issue, Perot replied: "I don't know
the answer to that, but if anybody
knows, I'll try to find out."
Politics is not the only arena
tempting people to claim too much.
In a bizarre caricature of God's omniscience, preachers, theologians, and
ordinary Christians sometimes promise more than they can deliver.
ASA member John M. Templeton of Nassau wants religious people to
be more open to the "enormity of
our own ignorance" and to the religious significance of new discoveries in the sciences. Before warning
up with molecular biologist Bob
Herrmann to write
The God Who
Would Be Known,
John expressed
that concern in a book titled
The
Humble Approach.
In 1992 the John Templeton
Foundation has initiated a new program, a "Call for Papers on
Humility Theology." Papers of approximately 5,000 words in length,
published within the past two years
(or accepted for publication) in a
reputable scientific or theological
journal, are eligible for an award
of $2,000 each. To win, a paper
must contribute to "our greater understanding and appreciation of the
new climate of humility engendered
by the sciences, and the theological
openness which that awareness demands." The twelve award-winning
papers may be reprinted.
Papers should be submitted in
double-spaced typewritten form, in
duplicate, to the John Templeton
Foundation, P.O. Box 1040, Bryn
Mawr, PA 19010-0918. If response
is favorable, the Call for Papers
will probably be repeated for at
least another year.
Ironically, it may take a certain
amount of pride in a piece of writing to submit it for a prize competition. Beyond that, the "new
revelations from the sciences"
stressed in the awards are coming
at a time when new revelations
about the arrogance of some scientific leaders are also coming to
light. Congressional investigations,
budget tightening, and internal squabbling are humbling the scientific establishment as never before.
ASA's Committee for Integrity in
Science Education observes that evolution often evokes excessive
claims. Consider what Harvard University Press says in an ad for its
new book by Ernst Mayr, Harvard's
emeritus Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology. Tided
One Long Argument
(a phrase Charles Darwin
used in 1859 to describe
The Origin of Species),
Mayr's "gem of historical scholarship" is claimed (in
Italics) to be "the
first clear, accessible explication of evolution."
(Wow. No wonder the topic generates controversy, if nobody has
been able to explain it clearly for
the past 133 years. Does the ASA
Committee understand evolution?
Well, er, uh, more or less, they
say. That's probably modesty, working its way up to
humility.-Ed.)
MOORE, NO LESS
A 20 percent discount, postpaidnot the overstated claim aboveled us to order a copy of
One
Long Argument
by "one of the
century's greatest evolutionists."
While awaiting delivery of that one,
we'll alert you to another book
we're anxious to see. It is
Darwin,
a new biography by Adrian Desmond and ASA member James
Moore, due from Warner Books in
New York this summer.
Darwin
has been getting impressive reviews since its 1991 publication in England, has been offered
by three book clubs, has gone into
a third printing, and is being translated into German and Italian.
Three book clubs in the U.S., including Book-of-the-Month, have
taken the forthcoming American edition. In a January review in
Nature,
Harvard paleontologist Stephen
Jay Gould called the biography "unquestionably the finest ever written
about Darwin," and deemed its authors "brilliant in their relentless
and integrative pursuit."
Jim Moore is an American who
for years has been teaching the history of science through England's
Open University. He turned his doctoral thesis into
The Post-Darwinian
Controversies
(Cambridge U. P.,
1981), a monumental but readable
work about the first 50 years of
the response to Darwinism, primarily in the U.K. but also in
America.
At 800 pages,
Darwin
may be
another monument, but we have no
doubt that it is even more "accessible" to ordinary readers than the
earlier work. Jim says that this culmination of 20 years of research
took 18 months in the writing and
left him exhausted. When we heard
from him early this year he had
survived a "media circus" accompanying publication, including
production of a 50-minute BBC-TV
documentary. After a publicity tour
in Australia this spring, he'll be
making a round of public appearances in the U.S. and preparing lectures for fall 1992. Jim has
accepted a year's appointment at
Harvard as visiting associate professor in the History of Science
Department.
TEMPLETON LECTURES
Two plenary speakers at the 1992
ASA ANNUAL MEETING in
HAWAII are being supported as
Templeton Lecturers: Harvard's Owen Gingerich on 'The Future
of Physical Science: Ethical & Theological Implications," and ASA's
own Robert Herrmann on "The Future of Biological Science: Ethical
& Theological Implications."
This Newsletter has been amiss
in not reporting some of the Templeton/ASA Lectures held around
the country for the past two years
and now even overseas. That's
partly because until January we
weren't receiving press releases
from publicist Joyce Farrell & Associates
(669
Grove St., Upper
Montclair, NJ
07043;
tel.
201-7466248).
Joyce informs local media
and some national media, generally
better known than ASA's in-house
Newsletter.
Under LOCAL SECTIONS last
time we described a Templeton lectureship at Stanford U. in April,
with Richard Bube of Stanford
and Howard Van TiH of Calvin
College taking a double-barreled
shot at relating science and Christian faith. We failed to report,
however, that on April I Henry F.
Schaefer, Graham Perdue Professor
of Chemistry at the U. of Georgia,
had given a Templeton/ASA Lecture
on "Modem Science and the Christian Faith" at Case Western
Reserve U. in Cleveland.
Even before that, in late March
a Templeton/ASA Lecture was presented in Italy at the fourth
meeting of the European Society
for the Study of Science and Theology. The lecturer was Andrej A.
Grib, head of the Friedmann Laboratory of Theoretical Physics at a
technical university in what is now
St. Petersburg, Russia. His topic
was "Time and Eternity in Modem
Relativistic Cosmology." Bob
Herrmann and
Perspectives
editor
Jack Haas attended that ESSSAT
conference at Castel Gondolfo, head
quarters of the Vatican Observatory.
Host George Coyne, director of the
Observatory, welcomed Christians in
science from some 37 countries, including a dozen from former "iron
curtain" countries.
Templeton/ASA Lectures have continued throughout the spring. On
May 5, Gareth Jones, head of the
Dept of Anatomy of the U. of
Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand,
gave a Templeton/ASA Lecture at
Trinity College, U. of Toronto. Gareth spoke on "The Human Embryo:
Between Oblivion and Meaningful
Life." On May 26, physical chemist
and Anglican theologian Arthur
Peacocke of Oxford gave a Templeton/ASA Lecture at Boston
College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Peacocke's title was "God's
Interaction with a 'Chaotic' World."
On May 29 Peacocke repeated
his lecture at a Cosmos and Creation conference at Loyola College
in Baltimore, Maryland. He was
joined by another Templeton lecturer, Karl Schmitz-Moorman,
professor of philosophy & theology
at the U. of Bochum, Germany. On
May 30, Prof. Schmitz-Moorman
spoke at the Loyola College conference on "Evolution and Redemption."
We'll try to keep you better informed now that we're in the loop.
Joyce Farrell's releases always
credit the John Templeton Foundation as sponsor of the lectures "in
conjunction with the American Scientific Affiliation." The Foundation is
noted as awarder of the Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion.
Joyce describes ASA in a paragraph such as this:
Dr. Robert L. Herrmann, Executive Director of the American
Scientific Affiliation, organizes the
Templeton Lectures. The ASA, with
headquarters in Ipswich, Massachusetts, has a membership of some
2,500 evangelical Christians who
have degrees in the sciences, and
who encourage good scholarship in
both science and theology.
(Even if "Ipswich" never makes
it into media coverage of the lectures, Joyce Farrell wins our
GEOGRAPHITO AWARD for trying to help people find ASA.-Ed.)
SQUIBS
Winner of the 1992 Templeton Prize
for Progress in Religion is Kyung-Chik
Han of Korea, an 89-year-old pastor who
transformed a small prayer group in
Seoul into the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world, the Young Nak
("Everlasting Joy") Church. The church
has 60,000 members and has spawned
some 500 other Young Nak churches
around the world. On May 7, England's
Prince Philip presented the prize of
575,000 pounds Oust over a million dollars at present exchange rates) at Buckingham Palace.
Public debate over use of human organs for transplant, and of fetal tissue in research, was the subject of a three page story in Christianity Today (18 May 1992), triggered by the death of anencephalic "Baby Theresa" in Florida. The Dept of Health & Human Services has banned use of any fetal tissue obtained by induced abortion, though research shows promise of successfully treating some intractable diseases (Alzheimer's; Parkinson's) with fetal tissue. Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon, an abortion opponent, has argued for lifting the ban as "a prolife position." The Christian Medical & Dental Society opposes use of electively aborted fetuses, but not "use of the tissue of spontaneously aborted, nonviable fetuses."
A sidebar 'Headfirst into the Gene Pool") described Sen. Hatfield's efforts to stimulate public discussion of moral issues in human genetic engineering. In the sidebar, U. of Minnesota geneticist and former ASA president Elving Anderson praised Hatfield's efforts, adding that "Christians must balance the desire to avoid evil with the obligation to do good, while emphasizing that God is the ultimate creator and sustainer of life."
Items of ASA interest appear regularly in Science, the AAAS weekly
journal. We learned a lot besides news
of "Science in Europe" from the 24 Apr
1992 issue on that theme. For example,
"Random Samples" (collected by Washington, D.C.-based Richard Stone) cited
an analysis of the biblical Exodus published in the March Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Oceanographers Doron Nof of Florida State U.
and Nathan Paldor of Jerusalem calculated that a 72 km/hr wind blowing
down the Gulf of Suez for 10 hours
could have provided a km-wide pathway
for Moses and his followers, then abated
to drown units of Pharaoh's army still
crossing the sea bottom.
In that same issue a "Research
News" story on cystic fibrosis
noted work at the U. of Alabama
suggesting a broader role for the
CF protein (CFfR: cystic fibrosis
transmembrane conductance regulator), with a quote from CF
researcher Francis Collins of the
U. of Michigan. The May 8 issue
of Science was devoted to "Molecular Advances in Genetic Disease."
Its lead article, by ASA member
Collins, reviewed "Cystic Fibrosis:
Molecular Biology and Therapeutic
Implications."
0
Stanford professor Carl Djerassi is
well known for his many accomplishments in organic chemistry, including
synthesis of the first oral contraceptive
and its commercial development through
Syntex Corporation in 1951. The title of
his 1992 Priestley Medal address, delivered in April at the 203rd American
Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco CFrom the Lab into the World")
sounded much like the theme of ASA's
47th ANNUAL MEETING to be held
in HAWAII this summer.
Djerassi's experience in R&D in
Mexico and Brazil led him some
25 years ago to propose that established scientists should help basic
research centers get off the ground
in developing countries-which is
what ASA is now trying to do in
Kenya. Indeed, Djerassi soon found
his proposal taken up by an African entomologist, Prof. Thomas
Odhiambo of Nairobi University.
Odhiambo's leadership kept the fledgling international Center of Insect
Physiology & Ecology (ICIPE) from
becoming a "neocolonial enterprise
of Western do-goodism."
Djerassi's address (C&EN, 6 Apr
1992) contained other hints that
ASA members frequently "do the
right thing." For example, participation in Stanford's Human Biology
Program drew Djerassi into a more
interdisciplinary style of teaching.
Eventually it even drew him into
writing fiction about scientists-in
order to "talk about the truth behind the scientific persona." Many
ASAers have found that presenting
the truth can be as challenging as
discovering the facts.
OPPORTUNITIES
Even before the Jun/Jul Newsletter was out, we received
feedback on the FINDING A JOB
story from Nfichael Adeney, husband of anthropologist Miriam
Adeney of Seattle Pacific University. Nfichael works for Intercristo,
"The Christian Career Specialists."
You may have seen one of their
ads:
Our story asked for ideas about
setting up a computer-based "job referral service." Intercristo matches
applicants to appropriate openings
with Christian non-profit organizations from among the 18,000
opportunities in their computer,
about half of them overseas. Every
year some 12,000 people use
Intercristo's "Christian Placement Network," first filling out a CPN
profile and then receiving four updated printouts over a three-month
period for $39.50. About a third of
the openings require that applicants
raise their own financial support.
Nfichael Adeney does research,
writing, and marketing of
Intercristo's Prospectus software, updated quarterly, which surveys all
current CPN openings (in 215 occupational categories) but also
contains much more information. It
has a teaching section on the integration of faith and work, sections
on short-term missions and "tentmaking," and an annotated booklist
on the church around the world covering 66 countries. Some churches
purchase Prospectus, which costs
$96 for the first year (with 5 quarterly releases), $40 each year after
that.
According to Mchael, Prospectus
has "the best list available of networks of Christians in the secular
marketplace" -including a lengthy
mention of ASA. He is currently
adapting the software for a move
from a 1980 Wang system to a
Novell network of PCs. He thinks
that by ASA's 1993 Annual Meeting, "members could send in an
application by modem and receive
back their first printout by modem."
(Interesting idea: ASA might even
pay for an "electronic ad" with
Intercristo, which would then automatically send ASA recruiting
material to every applicant with a
degree in some branch of science
or technology.)
We're not sure where this networking will lead, but meanwhile,
Intercristo offers a Career Kit
($45), "the best self-directed career
guidance tool available today," with
three audio cassettes demonstrating
job-finding skills, plus workbooks
on biblical foundations, assessment,
exploration, marketing, and check-ups.
Free on request is Career Concepts, "a book of biblical and
practical help and encouragement
for those in career transition" (multiple copies, $3 each). Intercristo's
address is 19303 Fremont Ave. N.,
Seattle, WA 98133-3800.
WHEREVER GOD
WANTS US: 23.
This story should remind readers
that investing one's technical
skills in a developing country need
not be a career terminus. Indeed, it
may sharpen those skills for further
work "back home." When Canadian
entomologist Arnold Dyck was first
featured in this Newsletter, he was
doing research and extension education on insects of economic
importance to Asia at the International Rice Research Institute in the
Philippines.
About ten years ago Arnold
brought his family back to Penticton, British Columbia. At
Agriculture Canada's Summerland station he took charge of a long-term
program of immense importance to
the apple-growing industry. That
work is about to come to fruition.
The goal of Arn's project is
total eradication from the Okanagan
region of the codling moth, an insect that began its depredations in
B.C. apple orchards around 1920.
The larval form burrows into a ripening fruit, ruining it for commerce. Without regular applications
of pesticides, an infestation can destroy as much as 80 percent of an
orchardist's crop. The solution Arnold Dyck has been working on is
massive release of sterile adult
moths. That treatment must cover
all orchards in an area-and with
overwhelming numbers-but promises to do the job once and for
all.
Last fall Am was raising about
45,000 adult moths per six-week
life cycle. That amounted to about
a thousand bugs a day, but the project is expected to require at least
a million a day. The moths will be
blown onto the grass under the
trees of every orchard in the zone
being treated, every three or four
days over a 20-week releasing season. After three years of such
treatment, a second zone will be
treated for another three years, covering the entire Okanagan and
Similkameen valleys in the next six
to eight years.
Arnold Dyck has perfected ways
to grow codling moth larvae on a
large scale. About 10 percent of
the adults are retained to maintain
the colony, the others irradiated by
cobalt-60 to render them sterile,
though still healthy and attractive to
potential mates. To be sure of overwhelming the unsterilized wild
males, the sterile moths must be released in a ratio of about 40
sterile moths for each wild one
loose in the orchards.
Arn's work has not been limited
to the laboratory or orchard, because the whole program had to be
"sold" to growers and to government entities-not an easy task
with Canada in a recession as prolonged as that in the States. Finally, last fall, three levels of
government made the decision to
build at Osoyoos the world's largest codling moth rearing facility, at
a cost of $7.7 million. Work on
the facility is to be completed by
the end of 1992. Soon a full staff
will be raising and releasing millions of sterile codling moths.
We learned about these developments from a story in British
Columbia Report (14 Oct 1991) by
writer Brian Swarbfick. Arn's wife,
Betty Mae, sent us the clipping last
fall, but we held up reporting it because of some unhappy family
news in the same letter. We hoped
things might take a turn for the better. Arn's mother was in the
hospital and Betty Mae had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer
for which she was undergoing chemotherapy.
We knew that the Dycks' many
friends from close-knit Christian
groups in various parts of the
world (including Berkeley) would uphold them in prayer, but the
medical prognosis was grim. Arn's
mother died peacefully in Oct 1991.
This spring we learned from Arn
that Betty Mae had weakened very
quickly in February and died peacefully at home on 23 Mar 1992.
Any sense of technical accomplishment in Arnold's Sterile Insect
Release project is thus overshadowed by a sense of great personal
loss. Betty Mae was principal of
Penticton Community Christian
School, a published writer, and an
energetic correspondent who enjoyed
reading this Newsletter. Courageous
accounts of. her painful therapy and
spiritual stretching filled the Dycks'
1991 Christmas letter.
Betty Mae's last conscious hours
were spent dictating a letter to
their son Timothy, a student at Conrad Grebel College at the U. of
Waterloo. Tim made it home just
before she died. After their daughter Andrea's graduation from high
school in June, Am was expecting
to be alone in a very lonely house.
He asks for our prayers. Betty Mae
Dyck's cancer was first diagnosed
on 25 Jul 1991 -their 26th wedding anniversary.
WITH THE LORD
Robert M. Page of Minneapolis
died of heart failure on 15 May
1992 at the age of 88. A physicist
and former research director of the
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL), he had been decorated by
four U.S. presidents. In 1946 President Harry Truman awarded him
the Certificate of Merit and in
1960 President Dwight Eisenhower
presented him with the Presidential
Award for Distinguished Civilian Service.
Born in St. Paul, the son of a
Methodist minister, Bob Page entered Hamline University to study
religion but in his senior year
switched to physics. After graduating in 1927 he joined the staff of
NRL, which had been established
only four years earlier. With colleagues there he invented the
technology to make pulsed radar effective; also the planned position
indicator (die now common PPI
scope, with radial beam sweeping
the circular face of a cathode ray
tube to locate radar echos from
planes, ships, or hurricanes) and
Project Madre, the first radar capable of "seeing" over a horizon. His
contributions, pooled with those of
British scientists in 1940, were crucial to winning WWII. Later,
Project Madre improved surveillance
of long-range missile launches during the cold war with the Soviet
Union.
Bob Page earned an M.S. degree
from George Washington U. while
working at NRL, where he was research director from 1957 to his
retirement in 1966. He also received an honorary doctorate from
Hamline. He was a long-time member and Fellow of ASA. During his
tenure at NRL he was active in
ASA's Washington-Baltimore local
section, and in the sixties participated in a number of ASA Annual
Meetings. He taught Bible classes
and frequently lectured on the relationship of science and Scripture.
According to his son, Rev. John
Robert Page of Medford, Oregon,
he had recently been working on a
full-length study on that subject.
ASA old-timers will remember
Bob's striking appearance: a tall,
thin, white-haired man with a distinctive goatee. Others (especially anyone who worked on early radar
gear) might know his 1962 Doubleday Anchor paperback, The Origin
of Radar. In addition to his son,
Bob is survived by a niece in Minnesota, a brother in Texas, and one
grandson.
Purnell H. Benson of Madison,
New Jersey, died on 18 May 1992
at age 78, after a brief illness. He
retired as a professor in the Graduate School of Management at
Rutgers University in 1984, having
taught marketing there since 1967.
Earlier he had taught sociology and
psychology at Temple and Drew universities. He had lectured at the
graduate business schools of NYU
and Columbia.
Born in Highland Park, Illinois,
Purnell graduated from Princeton
and earned an M.A. in philosophy
and sociology at Harvard and a
Ph.D. in social statistics at the U.
of Chicago. With his broad interests, he held memberships in the
American Economic Association, the
American Psychological Association,
the American Statistical Association,
and other scholarly societies. He
was the author of a textbook on Religion in Contemporary Culture in
addition to other books and many
articles.
As a member of the Religious
Society of Friends, Purnell did alternative service as a conscientious
objector in WWII. He had later
been a member of First Presbytenan Church in Orange, New Jersey,
and at the time of his death belonged to Long Hill Chapel, where
he sang in the choir. He had been
an ASA member since 1965. Survivors include his wife Mary, a son,
two daughters, grandchildren, and
two brothers.
Information on the life and work
of these members suitable for a memorial resolution to be read at the
1992 or 1993 Annual Meeting may
be sent to Carol Aiken at ASA's
Ipswich office.
THE EDITOR'S LAST
WORDS: 22
In "colorful" Hawaii we'll try to
take some usable B&W photos
for the Newsletter. Meanwhile, here
are "The Editor's Last Pix" from
the 1991 Annual Meeting (worth
several thousand last words). We
never found room for a story about
the fine music and worship, or a
story about ASAers active in the
quadrennial World Assembly of the
International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
The IFES Assembly was hosted
by IVCF-USA, which, like ASA,
was celebrating its 50th anniversary
that week at Wheaton College.
ASA's worship and focus on the
wider world both carry over to our
1992 theme: "LOOKING TO TIM
FUTURE AND ACROSS THE
GLOBE."
PERSONALS
Alonzo Fairbanks of Minneapolis serves on the staff of IVCF's
International Student Ministry. Having formerly taught science in
Beirut, Lebanon, he has been catalyzing Christian-Muslim dialogues at
the U. of Minnesota. In January he
was back in the Middle East setting up an IVCF student project
for the summer of 1993. In May
he led workshops for students from
Islamic countries at a conference on
international student ministries. Helping to host the IFES World
Assembly at Wheaton during the
1991 ASA Annual Meeting there
was a high point for Al. (Too bad
his photo was one that didn't turn
out - WOE.)
Stan Lindquist accompanied his
son Brent, now president of Link
Care Center in Fresno, California,
to Liberia this spring. For ten days
the two psychologists helped train
Liberian "peer counselors" to counsel people coping with damaging
after-effects of that country's civil
war. The Link Care team set it up
for those counselors to train others,
multiplying Stan and Brent's direct
ministry tenfold.
Russell Maatman's retirement
from editorship of Dordt College's
quarterly journal,
Pro Rege,
was
mentioned in the Feb/Mar ASA
Newsletter. His 1991 paper on "The
Origin of the Human Family" drew
a response in the Mar 1992
Pro
Rege
from mathematician John Byl
of Trinity Western University in
Langley, British Columbia, with a
reply from Maatman. Although Russ
was one of the two authors of the
Christian Reformed Church's recent
"Report on Creation and Science"
who opposed an evolutionary origin
of human beings, Byl charged that
Maatman's hermeneutical principles
were indistinguishable from those of
Calvin College physicist Howard
Van Till (author of
The Fourth
Day). In his reply, Russ asserted
that "None of the Bible is negotiable" but argued that not all parts
of the Bible have been equally perspicuous to all believers.
Roman I Miller is professor of
biology at Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and
editor of the Newsletter of the Affiliation of Christian Biologists. In
December Roman married Elva Bowman, a practicing optometrist. They
have settled in on a little farm outside of Harrisonburg, getting up
before 6 a.m. each morning to feed
livestock before going their separate
ways to work. This fall Roman
plans to teach a new senior seminar course on "Issues and Values
of Science," using among other
texts Richard Wright's Biology
Through the Eyes of Faith and Charles Hummel's Galileo Connection. He says he would welcome
ideas on teaching such an interdisciplinary course-and on making a
two-career (plus farming) marriage
work.
W. Jim Neidhardt, associate professor at the New Jersey Institute
of Technology, is one of a number
of physicists who sent clippings
about exciting new data on the
early history of the universe obtained by NASA's Cosmic
Background Explorer. Stories of the
COBE satellite's confirmation of the
Big Bang appeared in Time, Newsweek, and major newspapers, many
quoting U.C. Berkeley's George
Smoot: "If you're religious, it's like
looking at God." Among the clippings from Jim was the table of
contents of a book by James E.
Loder and W. Jim Neidhardt, The
Knight's Move: The Relational
Logic of the Spirit in Theology and
Science, due in Sep 1992 from
Helmers & Howard Publishers of
Colorado Springs. Jim Loder is the
Mary D. Synnott professor of the
philosophy of Christian education at
Princeton Theological Seminary. The
title is a metaphor from chess for
the "creative leap" of scientific or
religious insight. (We expect the
book to be replete with graphic
models of science/theology relationships, familiar to readers of Jim
Neidhardt's ASA papers.-Ed.)
Brian P. Sutherland of Victoria,
B.C., is a retired chemist who was
the founding Chair of the Board of
Regent College in Vancouver.
Brian, a Greek scholar since his
youth, has recently published a
study of the book of Revelation
based on his own translation of the
Greek text: Conquering and to Conquer: Readings Through the Book
of Revelation (Credo, $9.95).
Kurt Wood of Spring House,
Pennsylvania, is an industrial chemist whose name appeared under
"Newscripts" of the April 6 issue
of Chemical & Engineering News,
a page steadfastly devoted to chemical trivia. A published tribute to
classical "wet chemistry" reminded
Kurt of a parody he and a college
friend had written 20 years ago, no
doubt to the tune of "Good Vibrations" sung by the Beach Boys.
We won't inflict you with Kurt's
"Good Titrations" beyond these
lines: "All the painful things in life
seem alien / As I mix in several
drops of phenolphthalein . . ." (A
good enough "end poinf' for this
issue - Ed.)
PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS. Chemistry: Rodney L. Eisenberg (Organisch-Chemisches Institut, UniversitOt Zorich-Irchel, Winterhurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zorich, Switzerland. Tel: 01/257 42 38. Fax: 01/361 98 95. Email: eisenbergoczheth5a.bitnet), ASA member, seeks position for Fall 1992. Has B.S. in chem. (Boise State, Idaho); Ph.D., organic chem. (Oregon State), with T.A. experience teaching organic and p. chem. labs; 2 yrs postdoc research at Zorich; publications in J. Org. Chem., Tetrahedron, on enzymatic reaction mechanisms, biosynthesis of Sarubicin A; familiarity with recombinant DNA techniques, protein isolation, computer modeling of molecular structures. Rod is 33, married, 3 children, USA citizenship, fluent in German, active in ASAer Dan Price's church in Zurich.