'^■^ JOHN F. BARRY, JR. I ' KNOWurOM V I i^^ m 0L translucent blend ' make brush moke pen fill define paper erase quit save painting save palette get palette The taste is extravagant.f H^ price, merely indulgent ^.^^v •.^;<:V;^:.>.,, Gordon Editor Robert M. Rhodes Managing Editor Anne Hinnian Diffily '73 Associate Editor John F. Barry, Jr. '50 (on leave) Editorial Associate Katherine Hinds Class Notes Editor Cvnthia Balzer Design Consultant Kathryn de Boer Board of Editors Chairman John J. Monaghan '55 Vice Chairman Cornelia D. Dean '69 Harold Bailey, Jr. '71 lames E. DuBois '50 lohn B. Henderson '46 Dante G. lonata '59 Foni H. Oliviero '65, '73 Ph.D. Donald B. Smith '42 Fhzaheth Weed '73 Ph.D. I lohn A. Worslev '56 National Advisory Board Daniel Chu '55 Robert L. Girouard '71 Ph.D. Martha Matzke '66 Patricia Simon Schwadron '72 Alvin V. Sizer '36 ' 1982 bv Brown Alumni Mmllilv Published monthly, with combined issues in December/January, )une/)uly, and August/September, by Brown University, Providence, R I Printed bv The Lane Press, P.O. Box 130, BurlinRton, Vt 115402. Editorial offices are in Nicholson House, 71 George St., Providence, R.I. 02906, Member, Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The Monthly is sent to all Brown alumni. Please allow eight weeks for changes-of-address. Brown November 1982, Vol. 83, No. 3 Alumni Monthly ^1 #<^ page 18 page 26 In this issue 18 A Starr (National Service Scholar Program) Is Bom Thirteen students have been chosen as the recipients of the first Starr fellowships: $l,000-$2,000 grants in recognition of their time spent as volunteers serving society. The students are varied in background, service, and outlook, but their commitment to their ideals is shared. Meet five of the first Starr fellows. 26 A New Day Dawns for Science Research at Brown After eighteen months of labor, the University has been delivered of a brand-new building: the geo/chem facility on the corner of George and Brook streets, which will bring research facilities in the departments of geology and chemistry up to modern standards. Frank Press, president of the National Academy of Sciences, was here for the opening celebration, and had a few words to say about the place for technology in society. 30 Byron Lichtenberg '69: First Brown Alumnus in Space Come September 1983, a new class of freshmen will be tossing frisbees on the Green, and Byron Lichtenberg will be orbiting the Earth. For Lichtenberg, being chosen as one of the first non-astronauts for a space shuttle mission is a "dream come true." 33 The Colorful World of Steve Glassman Steve Glassman '72 is the designing type. He's an architect in Baltimore, raising beams and eyebrows with his distinctive style. Departments 2 Carrying the Mail 10 Under the Elms 17 Sports 36 The Classes 42 Alumni Newsmakers 45 Deaths page 33 The cover: Art and high technology dovetail in a painting program written by Barbara Meier '83. Her computer program displays on the screen a blank "sheet of paper, " a "palette, " a "brush, " and various options for painting solid areas, lines, and translucent hues. A particular drawing, such as Meir's Floral composition shown in the caver inset, can be saved and displayed with a few simple commands. The pointillistic effect serving as a backdrop on the cover is achieved by treating a "core dump" of the program as a painting. Students work on color graphics programming in the demonstration roomlgraphics laboratory in the computer science department's neio Gould Laboratory (see page 10). Photographs by John Foraste. Cover design by Kathryn de Boer. NILE CRUISES 17-DAY 600-MILE NILE CRUISES: 19S3 Cairo to Assuan departures Jan 12. Feb 9. Mar 9. Apr 6. Mav 4. lun 1. Auc 31 . Sep 2S. Oct 26. Nov 23. Dec 21 . 1983 .Assuan to Cairo departures |an 24. Feb 21. Mar 21.. V IS. May 16.jun 13. Sep 12. Oct 10. Nov 7. Dec 5. 1984 dates available upon request. Prices from S2.254 to S2.773. HELLENIC CRUISES I4-D,AY CRUISES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. ADRIATIC AND BLACK SEAS: Departures every other Wednesday from March 30 through September 14. 1983. itineraries include Italy. Yugoslavia. Greece. Egypt. Turkey. Malta. Tunisia. Dalmatian Coast. Bulgaria. Romania, and USSR. Prices from $1,682 to $3,458. ART TREASURE TOURS A DEEPER APPRECIAIION OF THE WORLD'S TREASURES: From European tours to Italy. France. Spain and Portugal, to the rich treasures of India and the Orient, a Swan Tour offers a deeper appreciation of the country, its culture and its art. Whether a Kenya Safari or a visit to the Great Houses and Gardens of Britain, each holiday is a unique experience. Whether you choose a Nile Cruise, a Hellenic Cruise, or an Art Treasure Tour, a Swan Hellenic holiday will be an adventure of a lifetime. .\\\ programs are accompanied by Guest Lecturers, experts in their fields, who will share their expertise with you to expand your experience of each place visited. Send for our full color brochures on any of these programs, and ]oin a Swan Hellenic Holiday to Remember, Mffi^ EXPRINTER 500 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10110 (212) 719-1200 (800) 22 1-1666 (OUT of STATE, CARRYING THE MAIL ROTC Editor: I must lift a superb quote from Tom Wolfe writing about the Vietnam Memorial Controversy: "The unspeakable and inconfessible goal of the New Left on the campuses had been to transform the shame of the fearful into the guilt of the courageous." Brown now has an opportunity to erase a bit of the shame over its treatment of ROTC. As a witness to that shame and as a loyal alumni and donor, I eagerly await the decision on ROTC. ALAN R. GOLDMAN '60, '71 Ph.D. Vicnnn. Va. Editor: Professor Bray, in my view, used one set of parentheses too nianv in his otherwise reasonable letter in the Sep- tember BAM. In the last sentence he par- enthesizes the word "retired." In doing so, does he shift his focus? Is Col. Ander- son's status now in question rather than his letter's content? It seemed so to me. CHARLES S. QUINN, Jr. '72 M.A.T., Capt., USN (Ret.) Newport, R.l. Professor Bray wns oiili/ iiidiciitiitg that Colo- nel Anderson is retired. — Editor 'Buffoonery' Editor: I object to the buffoonery paragraph on page 20 of the June/July issue of the Brown Alumni Montldi/. I am concerned about the process which stereo- types a mother as "mystified" and the placement of such words under our famiK' photo. What objective validation con- cluded "mother" instead of student, unat- tached bystander, etc. . . .? The buffoonery paragraph with our family photo amounts to manipulation and photographic abuse. I urge immediate correction . ]. M. GATES (Mrs. Osly ]. Gates) Portland, Oreg. The paragraph referred to was part of the text in the story about Conunenccmcnt in that issue and referred to an i>icident during the proces- sion. By the accident of layout it fell under the picture of Mrs. Gates and her family, hut it had nothing to do loitli the picture, which ivas taken al another time. The caption for the four photographs on that two-page layout is on page 21. The BAM regrets that Mrs. Gates was embarrassed by what she thought was the asso- ciation of the photograph with the paragraph in question. — Editor Research on Women Editor: I've just read Professor Scott's reply to Timothy Pratt's letter {BAM. Sep- tember). Out of loyalty to Brown, you shouldn't have printed it. We don't want people to think Brown professors are as unintelligent as Professor Scott sounded there. The heart of her argument is the silly assumption that social problems, like can- cer research, must be tackled bv university research. Now nobodv doubts that medi- cal research must be done in universities (among other places). But the analogy does not hold. Social problems don't yield to the same kind of approach. With social problems the facts are usually well known; Professor Scott cites several, and BAHAMA OUT-ISLANDS ^ On a small, tranquil, Bahamian island, ■ nestled among [he coconut patms, along a " ridge of sand dunes, is the ABACO INN. Our ten very private cottage rooms overlook the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Sea of Abaco to the west. From our informal club- A house-lounge, where we serve elegant five- IP^ course dinners and a tropical buffet lunch, we have a beautiful view of pink sandy beaches and the breaking surf. The ABACO INN is a ^ lifestyle — it's our home and we think it's A very special. We offer a warm, leisurely. f^ "away-from-ii-all" atmosphere, as well as snorkeling; scuba diving (we're both divers); deep-sea reef and bonefishing; sailing; boat- ing; windsurfing and trips to fishing and i boatbuilding settlements on nearby islands. The Inn is just a pleasant walk from the — • picturesque 18lh-century fishing settlement of Hope Town and the historic Elbow Caytf>a » I Lighthouse. If you're searching for a unique ^^ personal experience; if you're in touch with ™ i nature and if you wisti lo escape the rigors ol 20iti-ceniury urban life and yel retain ttie comforts, tiien we would like you to be our guests. Please write, via airmail, for our bro- ctiure. or teleptione us for reservations and information Ruth Maury — Jerry Whilelealher ABACO ESN Box J, Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas Tel. 1-809-367-2666 All the good things you don't see make what you do see so good. Hou-drd Corbin. Chairman of the EJoard. In the quality tailoring of a suit, most of the things that matter most are under the lining or under the fabric. And because you can't see them, they sometimes get neglected nowadays — especially when next quarter's earnings are likely to make the stockholders wince. But at Corbin. the only stockholders who wince are us. Corbin's business is a family business. So we go on concentrating on those good things you don't see — because three general ions of repu tat ion rest on them. As in a collar with three layers of fabric shaped and sewn — never fused or glued; as in a lapel gently contoured with eight rows of precise inner stitching. And as in dozens of other things that matter- from finished seams and basted i -J I linings to extra sewing on the inside for a A i'^i soft natural shoulder on the outside. ^ ~~r-^ You can't see them, but when you try on a I J Corbin you'll know they're all still there. There's a Corbin behind every Corbin. Even nowadays. After all. Corbin is in the business of making the finest clothing for the money. Not the cheapest for the money. This season's selection of Corbin natural-shoulder suits, sport coats and trousers for gentlemen and the Sonja Corbin collection of tailored fashions for ladies are now featured at leading clothing stores— in an unri- valled range of fine fabrics including all the richness, comfort and quality of pure wool. Some of those fine stores are listed below. For the one nearest you, write: Corbin, Ltd.. 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10104. CORBIN^^ a family-owned business devoted to quality PURE NA/OOL The sewn- in Wxilmark label Is your assurance of qualitv'-tested fabrics made of the world's best , . , Pure Wsoi. Atlanta GA-Muse's ■ Boston MA- Han-'ardCcxjp ■ Chicago IL- Mark Shale • Cleveland OH - Bunce Bros ■ Denver CO -Andrisen- Morton Co • Hanover NH -James Campion ■ Kansas City MO- Mr Guv • Milwaukee WI-I3erman-Bach Ltd - NewHavenCT-JFVess - New Orleans LA-Terrv&Jiiden - Newport Beach CA- At Ease • NcwYorkNY-FRTripler - Pittsburgji PA- KounU& Rider ■ Princeton lU- The En^ish Shop • Providence RI - Harvey Ltd. Hillhoitse Ltd ■ Rochester NY- WhUJock Bros San Francisco CA- Flying Scotsman ■ Seattle WA— Nordstrom ■ Washington DC-Geo[^etownUniversit\-Shop Take a 4-day getaway to Williamsbutg and let the warm hospitality ease the winter^ cold. At this time of year, Colonial Williamsburg tempts you not only with yesterday's aelights,but with lower prices, too. If you visit between Decem- ber 1, 1982 and February 28, 1983, you can spend four days ex- ploring the historic area and en- joy 3 nights, 3 breakfasts and 3 dinners at Williamsburg Inn, Lodge or The Motor House for only $153.00 to $244.50 per per- son, double occupancy Ask your travel agent about this and our other package plans. Or call 1-800-446-8956 toll-free. (1-800-582-8976 in Virginia.) Then spend some time where even the prices will take you back to the past. ■ COLONIAL VILLIAMSBIRI, ilRGIf^i TRYALL GOLF AND BEACH CLUB. lAMAlCAS LITTLE 3,000 ACRE RESORT. -^^ft^C^^n^'*^ Rekindle yourself in the quiet elegance of our 19th century Great House, just 31 rooms and suites. Or in the privacy of secluded villas Golf on our 18 seascaped fairways rolling across palm-studded terrain. Enjoy tennis on six courts where fBl WM sugar cane once grew. ■■KCESH Play at water sports along our beach or BB wMBB I in our pools. Fish, sail and ride horses in m " '^SL^ the serenity of Tryall's tranquil estate. GOLF AND BEACH CLUB Tryall. So little with so much. consuuyo HANOVER. lAMAlCA travel ageol or call (800) 336-457 1 any newspaper reader could add more. These facts were not dug out bv pro- fessors, but bv feminist activists and their lawvers. Unlike cancer research, which is based in universities, the front line of the women's movement is in the courts, in corporate board rooms, in government, and in the community. Brown got closer to the front lines (on the wrong side, alas!) in the Lamphere case than it ever will in Professor Scott's research. I have no idea what Professor Scott's research subject is, but 1 can still make that last statement with confidence, because that's the way it has always been. College research almost never helps social action. What research studies got us out of Vietnam? What ones led to the success of the Montgomery bus boycott? To the end of child labor? To votes for women? College students and professors acting as individuals may greatly help political or social causes, e.g., the Vietnam protest; but college research? Never! If Brown wants to spend $418,000 to help women, you should hire a couple of lawyers to file suits where the leaders of the women's movement think it would do the most good. Spending it for research will not help at all, and it's downright dishonest of Professor Scott to suggest otherwise. RALPH SIZER '64 Providence Editor: Although hypocrisy is by no means dead at Brown (or anvw-here else), I'm glad Ms. Scott troubled to answer Tim Pratt's letter. If I had been exposed to the work of one single female artist or art pro- fessor during my studies ('55-'59) at Brown and RISD, I might have had more tenacity in the career 1 had selected. FRANCES DUCKETT '59 Cranbury, N./. 'Simply wrong' Editor: May 1 express some thoughts about your September article on bulimia. Our immediate sensations as to this pig- ging-and-purging are disgust with the sordidness and pitv for the persons who cannot resist indulging in it. So far, so good, and 1 am pleased that Brown's counseling services are trying to rehabili- tate these unfortunate people. But I gather that not every overeater is a helpless addict, and that there must have been and still is an element of choice RETIRE IN THE SUNBELT - Best Golf - Best Sailing - Best Fishing - Best Hunting - Best Four Season Climate - Intracoastal Waterway Free Brochure Betty Halbritter Spellman '49 Box 2384 - B, U. New Bern. NO 28560 BY WALTER COVELL '38 The Brown Fund Has a Challenge* for you . . . ACROSS 1 Of greatest importcince (with 'top', the Brown Fund's place in Campaign) 5 To the University's future (i.e., make safe) 9 Set fire to Donor enthusiasm. 10 The next decade (see 5 A) 12 Weather reports when Brown Fund makes goal 13 Main artery, as in giving from the heart 14 Disciplines aided by your donation 16 Roll (as in a sweet roll of benefactors) 19 Promises 21 See 1 D 24 Firm reliance, or form for a Planned Gift 25 Guided by practical experience (as Annual Fund) 27 Joyous (the occasion when your gift is received by Brown) 28 Most courteous (the Brown Fund solicitor) 29 Decrease (what happens to Brown's financial problems when you donate) 30 Speeder, one who quickly sends a check DOWN 1 With 21 A and 22 D, fervent request 2 Equivalent (welcome form of gift to Brown) 3 Home on the range (another possible cre- ative gift) 4 Money (Matthew 25: 15) 6 Brown's raison d'etre 7 i.e. enjoyment of the tax advantages of your gift to Brown Fund 8 Raises, as in sights of donors 11 Singular lamentation when no pledge is received (2 words) 15 Military command (2 words), or physiognomy when you donate to Brown 17 Malicious: a feeling unknown to Brown Fund donors 1 2 3 4 J 1 5 6 7 8 ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ 10 ■ ■ 9 1 ■ ■ ■_■ 11 1 ■ ■ 12 13 I ^H 1 "P ■ ■ 15 16 18 1 ■ ■ ■" ■^ 19 20 21 ■ ■P ■ 1 ■ 22 ■r 24 25 26 ■ ■^■_B_ ■1 27 1 28 ■ ■ 1 ■1 I ■ ■1 29 30 18 With 24 A, Planned Gifts 20 Kind of money needed to keep the Annual Fund flowering 21 Maintain: the objective of the Campaign for Brown 22 See 1 D, two words 23 One who excites feelings of optimism by helping Brown 26 Purpose of Campaign for Brown, the Chal- lenge, and this puzzle: to money *The $2 Million Challenge which can match, double, or triple your Brown Fund gift in '82-'83! Nothing 'puzzling' about that! Details of the Alumni/ae Challenge and answer to the puzzle available by writing the Brown Fund, Box 1 893, Providence, Rhode Island 029 1 2. The Campaign for Brown The Brown Fund a Priority What you like about winter, you'll love about Woodstock Inn. Tcrrifk' skiing, kir instance, at Suicide Six or cmss-coLiiitn- at The WooJstock Ski Touring Center. Paddle-tennis. .A sleigh-ride. Or a stroll acn>ss the eoveivd bridge in our landmark Vermont village. (Hear the Paul Revere bells in our steeples.! Then, the warm glow of Rockresoits hos- pitalit\-. The patchwork quilts. Our 10-ft. fireplace. .And our renowned cuisine. .Ask your travel agent, too. about our Winter Spoils Plan. Or write or call toll-iVee 800-223-7637. In New York State. S00442-8198. New York Citv 212-586-4459. ^^-¥oo(]^^i A ROCKRESORT I Good Meetings. Guaranteed. F you re having a meeting in ProvicJence, welt gtumvitee you a good one. You 11 get the room you want. Set up the way you want it. Exactly on time. Your meals will be served on time. Your room will be spruced up while you re at lunch or dinner And your bill will be ready for review as soon as you re ready to leave. Whats more, if something Isn t perfect, you won't have to pay for it, (If a coffee breaks two minutes late, the coffees on us. Or if a meeting room s not ready on time, its free!) If this sounds good, call us aK 401)421-0700. The Biltmore Plaza, Kennedy Plaza, Providence, RI 02903, ^LTMODE, and of free will. Thus, another response, I have to say, is a feeling of embarrassment, indignation, and even outrage. In the eyes of the whole world, America is a paradise of material plenty, especially food. And in this time of a troubled economy, wide unemployment, and the daunting expen- ses of education or reeducation, life in a $12,t)00-a-vear college seems both attrac- tive and enviable. Yet here we have the spectacle of the privileged and affluent choosing to stuff themselves only to throw up. This is not just wasteful, it is immoral. It disturbs me that such behavior seems to be excused: "Doesn't everybody do it?" "You are expected to be thin." "It's an age-old problem." Certainly it is Amer- ica's problem, too, where images and life-styles, fatty foods and tlashv packages not onlv are such big business but also provoke their equally extreme, expensive, and dangerous-to-your-health reactions. But should not Brown, a community of rational people dedicated to excellence, strive in this respect to elevate itself above society in general? lust to show compassion to the vic- tims and benign lais.sez-faire to the others is not quite enough. Perhaps the Pem- broke Center for Teaching and Research on Women could study what appears to underlie the bulimia problem, the perva- sive myth of thin-is-beautiful. In the meantime, and in addition to giving the most generous sympathy and research, the Brown community ought to come out and declare that the voluntary abuse of food, as long as anyone hungers any- where, is simply wrong. CALEB R. WOODHOUSE '54 Little Comptoit. R.l. Kudos Editor: Pembroke's "Fabulous Fiftieth" has come and gone, but the memories lin- ger on. Our reunion committee has noth- ing but praise for all the Brown adminis- trators who helped to make our weekend successful and joyful. Nan Tracy was the perfect coordina- tor, deftly guiding and suggesting, han- dling details, but never directing us "old girls" who are, admittedly, somewhat set in our ways. The entire Alumni Relations staff offered and gave fantastic help to us. Mindy Folsom typed and re-typed our twenty-seven-page class history, never complaining about multi-changes and last-minute additions. Marty Daggett was wonderfully help- ful and patient, giving advice and assis- tance down to the last wedge of melon. And his catered meals were delicious and beautifully served. Jan Lutz of the phys ed department unearthed the movie of our 1930 Sophomore Masque, and John Ham- olsky of audio-visual arranged for its showing in our lounge. George Hender- Peter Island offers nothing. But has everything for those wanting a remote, beautiful and exclusive Caribbean resort. Peter Island Hotel and Yactit Harbour. Britisti Virgin Islands Call your travel agent Of David B. Mitchell CCo|212|3711323 CARIBBEAN YACHT CHARTERS Private crewed yacht charters or Morgan bareboat fleet — Virgin Islands — Antigua — Grenadines. Charters tailored to your party. Groups of 2 to 12. Tel. Lynn Jachney 617-599-7990 Box 583AM, Marblehead, Mass. 01945 Toll Free 800-225-2520 ISLAND IS TO Thadts why people go thera. Just 50 rooms, suites and cottages on 5 miles of beach.vSailing, -fishing.tennis, unwinding. lnconriparat>le- Winde^^r^efE, Island ispartc;f EJartherd, ttie Bahamas. Call your traveJ agent orAAanlynAllxecht (203)661-3171 or *vM^ Windermere Island Hotel and Oub lO Rorchuc*. Road.Greenwich.Cr 06830 FLOATING HOTELS ON THE CANALS OF FRANCE Cruise beautiful French canals on tiotelboat! Superb French cuisine. Relax on sundeck or cycle alongside while floating through Burgundy. Visit picturesque vil- lages and chateaus. Individuals or chartergroup (maximum-12). Paris pickup. HORIZON, 215 N. 75th, Belleville, IL 62223. 800-851-3448 son's photographer arrived on time — and his picture was the best the class ever had. Charlie Baldwin planned with us and conducted a beautiful and moving memo- rial service. Frederick MacArthur came to our little service to play a lovely organ prelude and accompaniment to hymns. In these days of unkept promises, non-appearing service people, and unre- turned phone calls, we dared not expect too much. But Brown administrators gave us all we needed and more — helpful advice, cooperation, courteous and efficient service. We thank them all! KATHERINE B. JACKSON '32 (for the Pembroke '32 Reunion Committee) Providence Kathy Levin (continued) Editor; The responses to my letter about Kathy Levin (September 1982) amazed me. The writers were so busy with ad homuiew pop-psychological specu- lations about how "sad, bitter, and lonely" I must be to hold opinions contrary to theirs that they didn't bother to discuss the only two points I actually made — the aesthetic judgment that the poems quoted weren't very good, and the moral judg- LLIXURY FIAIL TOURS BY PRIVATE TRAIN Relive the romance, mystery and elegance of the Orient Express on its original routing between Paris and Istanbul. Board our beautifully restored 1920s luxury train for a memorable 12-day program which includes festivities and off-train excursions en route. A candlelit lunch in a champagne cellar. A Viennese ball. A cruise on the Bospon.is Strait. Dinnerparties in asultans palace and a marquis' chateau On our private vintage train, enjoy superb cuisine, complemented by fine wines and served with finesse. Revel in the personal service the skilled staff of 27 provides our 98 pampered passengers. Be part of the legend. Celebrate 100 years of the Orient Express with Society Expeditions in 1983. Spring and fall departures. 12 or 18 Days From $4950. Society Exped Dept IL 723 Broadway East, Seattle, WA 98102 itions\ I would like to know more about Society Expeditions ORIENT EXPRESS Please forward your complete itinerary Cilv/State/Zip ''Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" Said ADMIRAL F'ARRAGUT at the Battle of Mobile Bay. ''Damn the taxes, m.ake money as fast as you can. " Says SAM SKURNICK in the battle for investment profits. The price paid for tax avoidance and deferment in direct costs, in illiquidity, and in questionable future benefits may be too high for most investors. Short-term gains frequently become long-term losses. I welcome di.ecretionary accounts whose objectives are simply to make money as fast as they can and as much as they can without taking unreasonable risks. Of course taxes are considered, but market considerations take priority. There are no management fees. The revised maximum tax rate of 20% on long-term gains make "genuine" low priced stocks especially attractive in today's market. F^ormy articles "Genuine Low-Priced Stocks For Superior Capital Appreciation" and "The Stock Market Is For The Little Man", as well as information on my past unique perform- ance-related commission rebate programs, send a stamped self- addressed No. 10 envelope (37
V^lien Carol Morrison interviewed Byron
Lichtenberg at MIT last year, his long-
time dream of traveling in outer space had
reached the threshold of reality. In Sep-
tember, after this story ims loritten,
Lichtenberg received the good news: His
dream has come true.
Lichtenberg has been selected, along
with Ulf Merbold of the Max Planck
Byron Lichtenberg '69 sits at the
desk in his small office at MIT
beneath a diagrammatic poster
of the first space shuttle, Columbia.
He is talking quickly, enthusiastically,
and a little shyly about his dream — a
dream that is close to coming true.
"I was in high school when the
first space missions were going up. I
was reading a lot of science fiction at
the time, and being an astronaut
seemed like a really neat thing to
do."
With his wavy blond hair and
chiseled features, he looks like a sci-
ence fiction writer's idea of an astro-
naut. Byron, however, didn't get the
job of payload specialist on the ninth
space shuttle flight as a result of any-
one's romantic notions. He won it
with years of careful planning and
hard work.
"I did try to program things," he
says with a smile. "I looked at what
the astronauts were then. They were
military test pilots with an engineer-
ing background. So I went to Brown
and majored in engineering, and
joined Air Force ROTC."
After earning a B.S. in engineer-
ing at Brown in 1969, Byron joined
the Air Force, working his way into
flight school with an eye toward a
fighter assignment, because fighter
assignments led to test pilot school.
He was staHoned in the Philippines
for two years as a fighter pilot. Then
in April of 1972, as the Vietnam War
was ending, his squadron was moved
to Udon, Thailand, where they flew
combat missions.
"It was grim," he says. "Of forty
people who were there all the time,
ten of our squadron were shot down
in nine months."
Meanwhile, Byron's wife, Lee
(Lombard '69 M.A.T.), who was
teaching school in the Philippines,
faced other challenges: During that
year President Marcos declared
Institute in West Germany, to serve as a
payload specialist aboard the ninth space
shuttle mission scheduled for next Sep-
tember. The two researchers — the first
"non-astronauts" to fly on a shuttle
— were selected by a panel of thirty-six
U.S and European scientists to accom-
pany four NASA astronauts on the mis-
sion.
martial law, and a record-breaking
flood — 145 inches of rain in twenty-
four hours — swept through, cutting
off the subdivision she lived in from
the base. It was a grueling climax to
Byron's four years in the Air Force
for both of them.
The space program was winding
down in 1972 with the last of the
Apollo missions. Skylab was a short-
term project and the shuttle seemed a
long way off, so Byron decided to
enhance his value to NASA by con-
tinuing his education. He entered
graduate school at MIT, where he
earned an M.S. degree in engineering
in the field of artificial arms. When
he talked to NASA officials in Hous-
ton about improving his chances of
being accepted into the astronaut
program, however, they advised him
to switch to the study of vestibular
systems.
Since the manned space program
began, astronauts have been plagued
with motion sickness, a fact that
NASA doesn't hide but doesn't
exactly publicize, either. The vestibu-
lar system, the fluid-filled semicircu-
lar canals in the vestibule of the inner
ear that detect the pulls of gravity
and acceleration, is key to under-
standing the causes and prevention
of motion sickness. It is an unglamo-
rous, but vital, field.
The Man- Vehicle Lab at MIT was
studying this problem so Byron
joined it as a Ph.D. candidate in 1976.
That same year, in conjunction with
some Canadian investigators, the lab
proposed a series of experiments to
be performed in the space shuttle.
Their proposal was accepted. The
principal investigator for each of
these experiments was offered the
opportunity to nominate two people
for payload specialist on the mission.
Byron was nominated, and after two
selection interviews and a week-long
physical at Houston, he was accepted
31
into "the finals."
The mission Bvron has been as-
signed to is Spacelab 1, a joint effort
of NASA and the European Space
Agencv, in which ten European coun-
tries are involved. It is the first
week-long, six-man mission, carrying
two teams of pilot, mission specialist,
and pavload specialist. Four men are
training as pavload specialists for the
flight: Byron, one other American,
and two Europeans. One American
and one European will go up; the
other two will provide ground sup-
port. The flight was originally
intended to go up in 1980; this date
has slipped to the fall of 1983, where,
so far, it's standing firm.
The payload and mission special-
ists share responsiblity for some sev-
entv-five experiments, mission spe-
cialists being in charge of the inter-
face of experiments to ship, and
pavload specialists supervising the
experiments themselves. The experi-
ments fall into five categories: life sci-
ences and biomedical engineering,
materials science and metallurgy,
space plasma physics, astronomy and
solar phvsics, and earth observation.
Needless to say, they're a mixed bag.
"It's really a survey-type series to
demonstrate the various experiments
we can do, and what kinds of equip-
ment we can carry," Byron explains.
Representative experiments study
why red blood cell mass decreases in
space, how zero gravitation affects
lubrication of bearings, and what
atoms, molecules, and charged parti-
cles constitute the upper atmosphere.
Infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray pho-
tos of several stars, including the
sun, will be taken, as well as large-
format pictures of the Earth for 3-D
mapping. An imaging radar that pen-
etrates clouds also will be used for
Earth observations.
"1 T" nderstandably, none of the
I I scientists training for mission
W>^ and payload specialist posi-
tions is an expert in all five fields, so
training began with two years of
background science instruction. For
each experiment, the men first re-
ceived an overview of the area, then
traveled to the principal investigator's
lab for a detailed explanation of the
experiment's whys and hows.
"It was like going to graduate
school in five different disciplines at
once," Byron says, his brown eyes
revealing his enthusiasm. "It was
really exciting and challenging, be-
cause we all had good, solid aca-
demic and laboratory backgrounds,
so the investigators could jump in at
graduate-school level and take off
from there."
The principal investigators' labs
are located throughout the U.S.,
Canada, Europe, and Japan. Asked if
he took along his wife and daughters,
Kristin and Kimberly, Byron shook
his head.
"The problem is that we go on
these whirlwind tours — you know, if
it's Tuesday, this must be Brussels.
Then Wednesday you're in London;
Thursday, Bristol; Friday morning
you're off to Copenhagen, then down
to Germany. You might spend a
week in Germany, but then you
might go to Paris for two days, Gre-
noble for a day-and-a-half, and Rome
for three days, then back to Milan for
a day, then hop over to Spain. . .On
the first tour, in sixty-eight days we
hit thirty-nine different cities. I
wouldn't have wanted anyone to go
through that — it's no fun at all. We
saw the insides of airports, taxicabs,
hotels, and the principal investiga-
tors' labs, and that was about it."
Byron's only space training so far
has been five "zero-G" flights, in
which a large jet climbs steeply, giv-
ing the occupants about thirty sec-
onds of 2G acceleration, then dives,
providing a half-minute of weight-
lessness. This pattern is usually re-
peated between forty and sixty times.
The record for Byron in one day was
a hundred "parabolas": sixty before
lunch and forty afterward.
Each thirty-second weightless
period is enough time to try out some
little thing in the spacious hold: part
of an experiment, or a blood draw, or
sometimes something a little less
serious, like a Superman flight from
one end of the hold to the other,
inches above the floor; or a game of
catch, with one curled-up scientist
serving as ball for the others. No
doubt the jubilant dance televised
from Skylab was born on similar
flights.
What does it feel like?
"Marvelous! For one second
there's a feeling of the ground drop-
ping out from under you, but then
you realize you're not going to fall,
and the apprehension goes away."
Occasionally someone gets motion
sick while moving around. A lot of
head motion or detailed work pro-
motes sickness, and those unfortu-
nates just have to strap themselves in
and tough it out. Byron has never felt
more than slightly queasy (though
this is not necessarily an indication of
how he'll feel in space).
And what does the 2G ascent feel
like?
"Like somebody's standing on
your chest."
Starting last January, the Space-
lab 1 crew began eighteen
months of intensive training in
Huntsville, Alabama, on the "Payload
Crew Training Complex," NASA-ese
for a working Spacelab mockup,
where they are learning and practic-
ing Spacelab I's experiments. Inter-
spersed with this training are more
trips to principal investigators' labs,
and frequent visits to the Kennedy
Space Center to run the real Spacelab
through its final tests as it is being
assembled. They'll also go to Hous-
ton for training on the functioning of
the orbiter itself.
Although payload specialists are
supposed to be scientists on a space
flight during the course of their
research, the numerous delays inter-
spersed with stints of travel and
training have made it difficult for
Spacelab 1 payload specialists to stay
abreast of their fields. Byron antici-
pates that once shuttle flight becomes
routine, payload specialists will need
to leave their universities and re-
search labs for only a few months of
training.
I talked to Byron in September of
1981.
"Did you hear about the tiles?" he
asked over the phone. "There was a
fuel spill, and 350 tiles fell off."
"You mean, the fuel was a solvent
for the tile glue?"
"That's what it looks like."
"Oh, no!"
"That's what everybody says," he
said with good-natured resignation.
"It looks like another delay."
"Well, it will give you more train-
ing time," I ventured weakly, sud-
denly aware that I was talking about
the goal he'd been working toward
for nearly twenty years.
"We have plentv of training
time — too much training time." A
note of urgency crept into his voice.
"What we need is some space Hme!"
32
■
m
III
..i
m
t-^l
iW
'^1
^
;^- ■?;
.»v-
Ke« Singleton's house is one of several Classman has designed for Baltimore Orioles players.
THE COLORFUL
WORLD OF
STEVE CLASSMAN,
ARCHITECT
By Anne Diffily
Photographs by Ann Stevens
A violet front door. Tomato-red
kitchen blinds. A bright pink
window alcove with rose trim,
and in front of it, a royal-blue semi-
circular table. A plum fireplace wall.
These are just some of the colors
in the Baltimore home of Stephen
Glassman '72, a young architect who
is attracting attention (and assign-
ments) all over the country. Colors
that sing out and rivet a visitor's eye
are a hallmark of his interior designs.
"I love color," exclaims Glassman,
a short, intense man who radiates
enthusiasm. Interiors are not his only
specialty, however. Classman's firm.
Art and Architectural Design, handles
complete house and small-business
design as well as interiors and land-
scaping. In featuring him as one of
"eighty-two people to watch in '82,"
Baltimore magazine last winter noted
33
that Glassman "is rapidly becoming
known localh' as the architect of the
stars. . .This spring hell complete a
home for Oriole Ken Singleton."
Glassman has designed homes for
other members of the Orioles baseball
team, but he calls the Singleton resi-
dence "one of the most exciting pro-
jects I've ever done." The Singletons,
he savs, were "very open to daring
and innovative ideas." What Glass-
man has built for them is a sort of
palace of illusions. "The house is a
recollection of Tudor architecture," he
explains. "On the outside it looks like
a three-story house; inside, there are
balconies overlooking a twenty-six-
foot living room. Because it's on a
hillside, the house has four levels. It
appears to have chimneys all over,
but thev're really skylights, so that
shafts of light come down inside."
On the two-acre, wooded property,
Glassman designed a two-level
swimming pool with a waterfall.
"One of the greatest joys of being
an architect," Glassman says, "is see-
ing your ideas go from one dimen-
sion in vour mind, to two dimensions
on paper, to three dimensions in real-
ity. I have clients who write to me to
say how much joy they're getting out
of their houses. This is a profession
in which vou get a relatively immedi-
ate result. It's not a delayed gratifi-
cation."
While not immediate, Glassman's
rise in the architectural world has
been rapid. An art history major at
Brown, he received his master's
degree from Yale Architecture in
1975. Back in his hometown, he
became design coordinator for Balti-
more County. "Less than a year
later," he says, "the mayor of Balti-
more called and asked me if I wanted
to direct the renovation of City Hall. I
worked on it for almost a year, and
was a consultant to the mayor and
the city council. The building got a
lot of publicity — it won awards, was
published in magazines such as Archi-
tectural Record. Since then," Glassman
says with a hint of pleased surprise,
"I've never had to struggle." Which is
just as well, for he believes that
"artists aren't fortified by eating tur-
nips for two years! It makes you frus-
trated and resentful."
He is particularly pleased that he
has been successful in Baltimore,
which in addition to being his home-
town is lately a flurry of renovation
34
and reclamation. Rows and rows of
old brick tenements and brownstones
have been restored (some by the firm
run by Bill Struever '74 and Cobber
Eccles '74 featured in the January
1977 BAM), and the harborfront area
has enjoyed a mercantile awakening
similar to that of Boston's Quincy
Market/Faneuil Hall complex.
"There's something fruitful about
coming back here," Glassman says. "I
thought I'd work in New York after I
got out of architecture school. I inter-
viewed there with various firms, but I
decided I didn't want to work for
$9,000 a year! Everything has turned
out so well here that I wouldn't want
to leave now."
from the outside, the headquar-
ters of Art and Architectural
Design are deceptively nonde-
script. Cars zoom by the old brown-
stone on a rather dreary stretch of
East 25th Street, and only a discreet
"A & A" lettered on the door whis-
pers that a successful architect works
here.
Inside, all is exposed bricks and
beams and, naturally, bright color.
Steve Glassman is seated with a vis-
itor in the workroom at a massive old
table with stocky carved legs; old
posters, architectural drawings, and
floor-plan blueprints vie for space on
the bulletin board; more drawings are
rolled and stacked in a glass-paneled
cabinet. The walls are red and sal-
mon, the windows sport red narrow-
slatted blinds, and track lighting
illuminates all. Glassman is working
alone in the office this day; on other
days he is joined by his employees: a
draftsman, a graphic designer, and a
secretary/helper.
"I like the idea of keeping my
business small," he says. "It helps me
retain the intimacy of contact with
my client. And when you're working
one-on-one, you take your responsi-
bility to the client much more seri-
ously.
"These people [clients]," he adds,
"are really placing their lives in your
hands. You are practically married to
them for six months or a year — for
the duration of the project."
The telephone rings frequently. "I
think you could run one spine across
to the windows in suite number
three," Glassman suggests to a caller.
"We're also going to have to rely on
the mechanical engineer. I'll be out
doing on-site supervision from 1:30 to
4 or so." He hangs up and turns to
his visitor. "We believe in designing a
complete job," he explains. "We do
the building, the interiors, the land-
scaping, and the site planning. If you
have all those things handled sepa-
L
rately, you can end up with a mish-
mash. The client won't know who to
listen to."
One advantage of having his own
business, Glassman says, is that he
can make his own rules. "I'm not
good at following arbitrary instruc-
tions," he says. "1 need to have rea-
sons." And, he adds, he enjoys
"wearing so many different hats." In
addition to his architectural services,
Glassman is skilled in graphic design
and in buying and selling art. He
worked as an assistant curator at the
Louvre before entering Yale Architec-
ture, continuing an interest that
began when he was ten years old and
started a personal collection of prints
and drawings. He continues to buy
art for clients as well as for himself,
and has been generous in his dona-
tions to Brown's permanent collec-
tion.
J. Xt
rt and vibrant color accents are
the focal points of the four-
. teen-room French Tudor house
Glassman shares with actor Mark
Basile in a residential Baltimore
neighborhood. Nearly every room
features their collection of French and
American paintings and sculptures,
turn-of-the-century posters and draw-
ings, ceramics, and glass. "Monkey
on a Donkey," a whimsical wood
Old posters and prints add color to Gtassman's
office in a Baltimore brownstone. He started
his art collection at age ten; now it fills much
of his fourteen-room house and the A & A
offices.
sculpture by Dutch artist Karel
Appel, adds bright primary colors to
the beige-and-plum living room.
Glassman designed the large geome-
tric pedestal for the piece's display;
he also created the modern semicircle
of royal blue laminated plywood that
serves as a dining table comfortably
seating six.
Glassman and Basile bought the
sixty-three-year-old house several
years ago from an elderly woman
whose health was failing. "The rooms
had long ago lost their luster to fall-
ing plaster, layers of dark paint on
the floors and woodwork, and gen-
eral disrepair," Glassman recalls. But
underneath all the dust and paint
he and Basile found beautiful oak
flooring, brass fittings on doors and
windows, a French country mantel of
light and dark oak, clay tiles in the
solarium, mahogany doors, and por-
celain bath fixtures. They totally
rebuilt the kitchen, which with its
white-and-red color scheme and big
restaurant stove is a cook's dream;
and created a study for Basile and
two large studios for Glassman
upstairs.
From the winding road outside,
Glassman's house appears much like
its staid stucco-on-brick neighbors.
Inside, a visitor accustomed to bland
Colonial decor is pleasantly startled
by unusual colors everywhere, and
by a bumptious greeting from Alfie, a
squirming, wagging miniature hay-
stack that, Glassman explains, is part
cocker spaniel, part Afghan hound.
"Color," Glassman says, sipping
tea and munching on a brownie at
his blue table, "was the key here. It's
integral to the mix of furnishings we
have, from Victorian to contemporary
classics, and to the works of art."
Alfie thumps her tail on the antique
Tabriz rug, eyeing the brownies
hopefully. "People have gotten used
to the idea that everything in their
homes should fall into the back-
ground and blend in. But color can
do many things. You can make
planes of space appear to recede or
advance. People respond emotionally
and psychologically to colors, and the
architect/designer can address those
issues."
Glassman is excited about a cur-
rent project, the renovation of a stone
mill house built in 1750. "We had to
reclaim all the walls — repoint and
clean the stones," he says. "It looks
fabulous. There are old wood floors,
and modern appliances and wiring."
Another ongoing job is the half-mil-
lion-dollar design of a loft in New
York City. Because his work often
takes him on the road — he has done
jobs in states from California to Del-
aware, from Seattle to Toronto, and
even in England — Glassman keeps an
apartment in the Big Apple for con-
venience.
Most of his clients, Glassman
says, are word-of-mouth referrals.
"Every time I do a job, people see it
and call me. I've been lucky that my
work for sports stars and media peo-
ple has gotten a lot of attention."
Full-color articles on Glassman-de-
signed homes and alterations have
appeared in such magazines as
Remodeling Ideas (published by Better
Homes and Gardens), Woman's Day
(which featured his own home), and
Baltimore, to name a few.
"I'm convinced that successful
architects are 50-percent talent,"
Glassman says, "and 50-percent per-
sonality. You have to have a rapport
with people. Also, I'm always
pleased with the quality of work that
comes out of this office. It's always
terribly exciting, even when it's not a
particularly intellectual or cerebral
project."
In that vein, Glassman adds that
he seldom, if ever, turns down a job,
no matter how small or insignificant
it seems. "People often preface their
inquiries to me with, 'I don't know if
you'll be interested in doing this. . .'
I'm interested in anything — from a
$20,000 project to a '$500,000 one. 1
love what I do, and I hope I never
get conceited. In this profession,
there's always room for humility.
Everybody can make big mistakes."
So far, however, any mistakes
Steve Glassman, architect, has made
are far overshadowed by his colorful
successes.
35
THE CLASSES
written by Cynthia Balzer
"t Q The Reunion Committee met in
J.O September to arrange tlie details
ot our ti5th reunion. You will be informed
about it in a future publication. The Reun-
ion Committee is as follows: /. Irving
McDou'tit and Wiittcr AdUr, co-chairmen;
Zaias R. BUsf. lohn S. Cluifee, Roswell S.
Bcisiivrf/i, Wtirdwiil C. Leonard, and Dwight
T. CoUey. president (ex officio).
Waiter Adler, class secretan,', reports
that twentv-eight members of the class
ha\e passed away since the 60th reunion
in 1978.
^ ^ Anne Crawford Jonah, Dallas,
^ / Texas, has heard from Claire
Ryan Beecher. who has been in California.
Claire's son, Michael, has been named a
municipal court judge by California Gov-
ernor Jerr\' Brown. Joe, Claire's husband,
"had the unusual pleasure of enrobing his
son because he is a lawyer," she writes.
'5 ^ WtUiani R. Goldberg, Providence,
J^ has been elected to a new
three-vear term as Rhode Island state del-
egate to the American Bar Association
House of Delegates. He has been an asso-
ciate justice of the Rhode Island Family
Court since 1968.
'5^ Maurice L. Clemence, Wellesley
»JTI Hills, Mass., has been elected to
the board of trustees of Old Sturbridge
Village, in Sturbridge, Mass. He had pre-
viously served as an overseer.
O C Beatrice Wattman Miller, Provi-
J\J dence, retired this year as media
specialist in the Providence public schools.
She holds a master's degree in library sci-
ence from the University of Rhode Island.
Her grandson, Andreiv Lewis Feldman, is a
freshman this fall, having entered Brown's
seven-year medical education program.
Bea's daughter, Can/l-Ann Miller Feldman
'59, and her husband. Dr. Martin L Feld-
man (see '58), are Andrew's parents. Bea's
son, Donald, practices law in Providence
as a member of the firm of Temkin &
Miller, Ltd. The class extends its sympa-
thy on the death of Bea's husband, Meyer
S. Miller, last fall.
^/T Hcmard Silverman, East Green-