PROFILESmithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Summer 2004 From the DIRECTOR

I think it is fair to say that while scien- tists have been in the forefront of Amer- ican achievement from the nineteenth century on, they have not always been in the forefront of American attention. There have always been a few, of course, like Albert Einstein or Jonas Salk, who are known to a wide range of their fellow citizens. But mostly, except for moments of Nobel Prize recognition, they labor unnoticed and uncel- ebrated outside of their own fields. This is a situation the National Portrait Gallery hopes to address—and redress—in this issue of Profile, and in future programs and exhibitions. As members of the Smithsonian community, we are aware that our very institutional existence is because of the generosity of James Smithson, a gentleman scientist in the era before professionalization, who saw the pro- motion of science as at the heart of the goals of the Enlightenment. It was his conviction that America would be center stage for a democratic experi- ment that would have to include “the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” which led to his extraordinary gift to the American people. Led by our first Secretary, the physicist Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian established a strong commitment to scientific research that has continued to our own day. And the Smithsonian, too, benefited from the collecting associated with the historic Wilkes Expedition to the South Seas (1838–42), initially displayed in NPG’s own Patent Office Building and described in this issue. The Portrait Gallery’s “problem” with the proper recognition of the contribution of scientists has never been a lack of will but more a lack of vital examples of scientific portraiture. Were it not for the welcome place of photography in our collections, we would be poor indeed in our capac- ity to even suggest the range of fields and personalities that have made science one of the glories of American culture. It is perhaps not surprising that scientists have been less likely to sit for striking portraits in other genres than, for example, artists and politicians. This has been one of the principal motivations for the Gallery to begin planning a commissioning program, in which great contemporary Americans, selected by our board in consultation with our staff, would be matched with first-rate contem- porary portraitists. Our sister organizations in England, Scotland, and Australia have already begun such programs, with great success. These are not inexpensive, but we will find a way. So consider this issue of Profile our statement of commitment to portray the role of science in America. We look at such towering figures as Ein- stein, of course, and our cover figure, James Watson, but also the equally important Charles Drew, whose research saved countless lives through the establishment of blood banks but who then confronted a preposterous national policy of separating blood by race, and Rosalyn Yalow, whose work proved equally absurd the notion that women should not partici- pate in cutting-edge science. Science comes out of the commitments of American society, revealing its strengths and, on occasion, its limitations. No telling of our nation’s history is complete without it.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 5, No. 2. Summer 2004

4 10 Cover: Molecular biologist James Nobel Prize Winners in A Moment in Dewey Watson posed for Francis Science and Medicine American Science Bello with a model of the DNA molecule for Fortune’s June 6 12 1954 article, “The Young Scien- Book Review Science in Our Lives tists.” See page 10. Arthur Miller: His Life and American Research Gift of Steve Bello ©Estate of Francis Bello Work by Martin Gottfried Pioneers Correction: 7 14 The caption on page 12 of the Book Review NPG on the Road spring 2004 issue should read (left to right): unidentified Theodore Roosevelt: 15 man; Mississippi lieutenant Champion of the American governor Paul Johnson; Chief Spirit by Betsy Harvey Kraft NPG at Home U.S. Marshall James McShane; Justice Department official 8 16 John Doar (with face hidden), Curator’s Choice Portrait Puzzlers and James Meredith. Thomas Edison 9 In the next issue Titian Ramsay Peale • Presidential politics And the Great U.S. South • Recent acquisitions Seas Exploring Expedition • Upcoming exhibitions

Marc Pachter Commission Director Daniel Okrent, Chair PROFILE Carolyn Carr Anthony C. Beilenson, Vice Chair Deputy Director and Chief Curator David M. Childs Eloise Baden Sally G. Chubb Associate Director for Administration Jeannine Smith Clark Joan Kent Dillon Editor Ella Milbank Foshay National Portrait Gallery Carol Wyrick Manuel L. Ibáñez Smithsonian Institution Office of Education Jill Krementz 750 Ninth Street, NW Review Editor Jon B. Lovelace P.O. Box 37012, MRC 973 Sidney Hart Joan A. Mondale Robert B. Morgan Washington, DC 20013-7012 Department of History Roger Mudd Phone: (202) 275-1738 Editorial Committee Constance Berry Newman Fax: (202) 275-1887 Anne Christiansen V. Thanh Nguyen E-mail: [email protected] Office of Public Affairs Barbara Novak Website: www.npg.si.edu Dru Dowdy R. Theodore Steinbock Office of Publications Jack H. Watson Jr. Readers’ comments are welcome. Pie Friendly Ex Officio Members To receive Profile, please send your Office of External Affairs Marianne Gurley Earl A. Powell III name, home address, and e-mail address Office of Photographic Services William H. Rehnquist (if applicable) to [email protected] or Ellen G. Miles Lawrence M. Small the post office box listed above. Department of Painting and Sculpture Ann M. Shumard Honorary Commissioners Unless otherwise noted, all images are from Department of Photographs Julie Harris the National Portrait Gallery collection. David Levering Lewis ©2004 Smithsonian Institution. Design Bette Bao Lord All rights reserved. Leslie London, London Graphics Fred W. Smith

3 Nobel Prize Winners in Science and Medicine

Anne Collins Goodyear exhibit the properties of a wave, Assistant Curator of Prints could also be described as con- and Drawings sisting of particles (known today First awarded in 1901, the Nobel as photons). Prize was established by the 1895 A year after Jacobi created will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel. this portrait, Einstein, a pacifist, The Swedish inventor of dyna- encouraged President Frank- mite wished to honor annually lin D. Roosevelt to pursue the “those who, during the preced- building of an atomic bomb to ing year, shall have conferred the ensure victory in World War II. greatest benefit upon mankind.” After the war, however, Einstein Since 1901, well over 200 Amer- joined other scientists in oppos- icans have received awards for ing any future use of this weapon. chemistry, physiology or medi- Unwilling to compromise his cine, and physics. Each of the convictions, even when they put five scientists featured here trans- him at odds with other physicists,

formed his or her area of study. ©Lotte of Jacobi N.H. Archive, Univ. Einstein concluded at the end of Albert Einstein by Lotte Jacobi, Their portraits offer unique per- 1938 his life: “What I seek to accom- spectives on these achievements. plish is simply to serve with my feeble capacity truth and justice ALBERT EINSTEIN at the risk of pleasing no one.” When photographed by Lotte Jacobi for Life magazine at his SELMAN WAKSMAN Princeton, New Jersey, home, Appropriately seated outdoors Albert Einstein (1879–1955) had in this photographic portrait already lived in the United States by Dan Weiner, microbiologist for five years, having fled Nazi Selman Waksman (1888–1973) Germany and joined the Institute studied the behavior of micro- for Advanced Study in 1933. He organisms in the soil. In 1941, would become an American citizen Waksman invented the term in 1940. An admirer of the work “antibiotic” to describe a new of Jacobi, who had already photo- class of medications, includ- graphed the scientist in Germany, ing penicillin, which relied on Einstein had personally recom- one microbe to destroy another. mended her to Life. Ultimately, Stimulated by the research of his ©Sandra Weiner graduate student, René Dubos, however, the magazine deemed Selman Waksman by Dan Weiner, Jacobi’s portrayal of Einstein too c. 1950 and inspired by the wartime informal to publish. urgency of treating deadly dis- Einstein attained international eases, Waksman investigated the prominence in 1919 when obser- antibiotic potential of microor- vations made during an eclipse ganisms in the earth. In 1943, in confirmed for many the validity conjunction with another of his of his general theory of relativ- graduate students, Albert Schatz, ity, which postulated that gravity Waksman identified Streptomy- was an expression of curvature in cin, which proved effective in the space-time continuum, rather treating tuberculosis, one of the than an independent force. Two world’s most lethal illnesses. In years later, Einstein would receive 1952, Waksman received the the Nobel Prize for physics. Ironi- Nobel Prize in physiology or med- cally, however, the award did not icine for this discovery. Waks- recognize his controversial gen- man later praised the power of eral theory of relativity. It hon- the organisms he studied: “One ored instead his work on the can visualize no higher form of life without the existence of the

photoelectric effect, which estab- ©Estate of Alice Neel lished that light, long observed to Linus Pauling by Alice Neel, 1969 microbes. They are the universal

4 Nobel Prize Winners scavengers. They keep in circula- trigger the atomic explosion. tion the chemical elements which Bethe later joined his peers who are essential to the continuation opposed the use and testing of of plant and animal life.” atomic weapons. Seated at his desk in Halsman’s photograph, LINUS PAULING with equations on a black- The only recipient of two board in the background, Bethe unshared Nobel Prizes, for emanates the satisfaction of chemistry (1954) and peace one inspired by his work. Still (1962), Linus Pauling (1901– active into his nineties, Bethe 1994) distinguished himself with reflected recently: “I am a very his contributions to science and ©Estate of Philippe Halsman happy person. I wouldn’t want his sensitivity to its social impli- Hans Bethe by Philippe Halsman, to change what I did during my 1962, gift of Jane Halsman Bello cations. In the 1930s and 1940s, life.” Pauling’s application of quan- tum mechanics to chemistry inspired new discoveries about HANS BETHE ROSALYN S. YALOW molecular structures and bonds, Photographed by Philippe Hals- Arthur Leipzig’s 1987 photo- research recognized by his first man in 1962, Hans Bethe (born graph of Rosalyn Yalow (born Nobel Prize. His insights led him 1906) appears at the height of 1923) depicts the medical phys- to important observations con- his career, just five years before icist, who had recently been cerning the chemical structure receiving a Nobel Prize for named Solomon A. Berson Dis- of blood protein. His work had physics. The award honored tinguished Professor at Large at valuable implications for the field his lifetime research into the Mount Sinai School of Medi- of molecular biology, bringing production of stellar energy, a cine, at work in the lab. Leipzig about an improved understand- subject on which he published included the portrait in his 1988 ing of sickle-cell anemia. Pauling a groundbreaking 1939 essay. book, Sarah’s Daughters: Jewish would later study the curative Targeted by the Nazis, Bethe Women Around the World. powers of vitamin C. fled his native Germany in 1933 Yalow pioneered the use of Following World War II, Paul- and helped improve armor for radioactive isotopes to analyze ing fought the deployment and Allied ships during World War blood and other bodily fluids for testing of atomic bombs, publish- II. Attaining American citizen- the presence of disease or toxic ing No More War! in 1958. His ship in 1941, Bethe accepted substances. During the 1950s efforts earned him a second Nobel J. Robert Oppenheimer’s invi- Yalow and Solomon Berson Prize in 1962. The following year tation to join the Manhat- collaborated to invent radioim- the United States, Great Britain, tan Project. Bethe headed the munoassay, known as RIA, to and the Soviet Union implemented Theoretical Physics Division at study insulin levels in the blood the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. Los Alamos Laboratories and of diabetic patients. The proce- Alice Neel’s informal portrait, supervised a group charged dure now serves many purposes, made in 1969 at Pauling’s home, with creating a mechanism to including diagnosing viruses and depicts the scientist thyroid disease, identi- outside of the labora- fying the presence of tory, demonstrating the drugs in the body, and breadth of his commit- testing blood supplies. ments. As Pauling later In 1977 Yalow became explained, “I could have the second woman to accomplished a lot more win the Nobel Prize for science from 1945 to physiology or medicine, 1965. I decided . . . I ought an award she shared to get scientists working with Andrew V. Schally for world peace. . . . Scien- and Roger Guillemin, tists have an obligation to for her contribution help fellow citizens make to the development of ©Arthur Leipzig the right decisions.” Rosalyn S. Yalow by Arthur Leipzig, 1987 RIA.

Nobel Prize Winners 5 Book Review Arthur Miller: His Life and Work by Martin Gottfried (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003), 484 pp.

1692. But the story—centered panned by the critics and ignored on community hysteria and mob by the theatergoing public in the mentality—also carried a more United States. Still, Death of a contemporary critique: that of Salesman and The Crucible con- the House Committee on Un- tinue to be two of the most stud- American Activities. In Miller’s ied plays in this country, and view, the committee’s search for Miller’s screenplay for the 1995 Communist infiltration through- film version of The Crucible out the United States nurtured a earned him an Academy Award “witch hunt” atmosphere mirror- nomination. His reputation as ing that of colonial Salem. The an important twentieth-century committee’s proceedings, which playwright seems certain. in turn led to Hollywood black- Martin Gottfried’s biography listing, and the testimony of his views Miller through his plays. friend, director Elia Kazan—in Gottfried, a drama critic and which Kazan “named names”— the author of several books on ©Arnold Newman Arthur Miller by Arnold Newman, led to a rift between Miller and Broadway theater and its person- 1946 Kazan, who had been artistic alities, interviewed Miller on var- collaborators and close friends. ious occasions. But when Gott- It was a falling-out that under- fried informed Miller that his Jessica Hoffman scored the divisiveness of the personal life would be included Program Assistant McCarthy era and brought into in this biography, Miller broke Arthur Miller (born 1915) has sharp relief Miller’s lifetime off contact. Gottfried instead been described as America’s commitment to liberal political constructs his portrait of Mill- greatest living playwright. Two causes, which eventually led to er’s private life from family and of his plays—Death of a Sales- his being called to testify before friends. He describes Miller’s man and The Crucible—are an the committee. personal struggles in tandem entrenched part of the American Miller’s plays are time and with a meticulous examination literary canon. Miller grew up in again transparently based on of his plays, recounting Miller’s Manhattan, living in comfort- his family, friends, and experi- every work—even numerous able circumstances near Central ences—sometimes disturbingly unpublished drafts and mul- Park until the Great Depression, so. After the Fall (1964) tells tiple incarnations—from his when his father’s financial ruin the story of Maggie, an obvious student days at the University forced the family to adjust to a stand-in for Marilyn Monroe, of Michigan in the late 1930s decidedly straightened existence whom Miller married in 1956. through 2000. Faced with the in Brooklyn. Willy Loman, the Written less than two years after challenge of describing an art pitiable protagonist of Death of the film icon’s tragic death, the form that must really be expe- a Salesman, was derived from play was so stark in its portrayal rienced, Gottfried somewhat Miller’s observation of sales- of Maggie’s emotional volatility, belabors his description of the men who worked in his father’s as well as her struggle with drug playwright with these detailed manufacturing plant during the and alcohol abuse, that Miller accounts. Cer- Depression. With the portrayal was harshly criticized for it. tainly, though, of Willy’s loss and failure, the Miller has struggled with both it is a well- play’s powerful dialogue and critics and the Broadway estab- re s e a rc he d potent drama thrust Miller into lishment, laboring under the and thorough a place of prominence early in familiar artistic burden of trying e x a m i n a - his career. to follow his early critical and tion of that In 1953 Miller etched him- commercial successes. Although for which self onto the national political he has written sixteen new plays Miller will scene with the production of since the late sixties, which have be remem- The Crucible, which drama- been lauded by audiences abroad, bered—his tized the Salem witch trials of all of them have been generally work.

6 Book Review Book Review Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit by Betsy Harvey Kraft (New York: Clarion Books, 2003), 180 pp.

between one and two hundred skins.” The young Roosevelt had a passion for preserv- ing birds and wild animals, and did so at every opportunity, using his own special potions. During that same trip, only now in Germany, he complained about his German hosts. “My scientific pursuits cause the family a good deal of consternation,” he said in a letter home. “My arsenic was confiscated and my mice thrown (with the tongs) out of the window.” He illustrated this letter with a sketch of the incident, which Kraft has reproduced. In the concise space of 180 pages, Kraft fleshes out a seamless and balanced profile of a man who, with his boundless energy and supreme willpower, managed to squeeze several active lives into one sixty-year lifespan. Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep on January Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough 6, 1919, not from excessive years but, one might say, from exces- Rider by Pach Brothers Studio, sive mileage; he simply wore himself out in a glorious celebration of c. 1898, gift of Joanna Sturm living life at full throttle, nearly every waking hour. Kraft narrates this frenetic life with evenly paced text, and mingles photographs James G. Barber and illustrations of Roosevelt at various ages on almost every other Historian page. More than being just fun to look at, these images—of TR as Betsy Harvey Kraft’s new book a child, cowboy, Rough Rider, New York City police commissioner, for young readers (ages nine President, and African big-game hunter—reinforce many of Kraft’s and up), Theodore Roosevelt: anecdotes. The story of the teddy bear is of course one of the better Champion of the American known stories. Yet students will relate to a cartoon of Roosevelt, Spirit, is a good introduction with a six-shooter in each hand, shooting holes in a large diction- for school-age children curious ary that stands in front of him. An indifferent speller, TR proposed to learn about the life of the a new system of spelling words phonetically, such as “thru” for twenty-sixth President. Written “through.” in a style that will also engage Reform of one kind or another was a defining thread that ran older audiences looking for a throughout Roosevelt’s life. As President, for example, he enacted condensed and illustrated biog- big business reforms, conservation measures, and pure food and drug raphy, her story is a vivid telling laws. Kraft, however, shows of a remarkable life; the fictional Roosevelt at his courageous best character Harry Potter scarcely in a chapter about his efforts as had more exciting adventures or police commissioner of New more fun than the real-life TR. York City, from 1895–97. Her Consider, for instance, Teedie discussion of how he tried to (TR’s nickname in the family) at stop the corruption in a large age fourteen. That year, in 1872, and entrenched bureaucratic the Roosevelt family took a two- system, wrestling with difficult month-long cruise up the Nile problems—sometimes with for- River. Teedie spent much of his titude and sometimes with wit— time shooting exotic birds with is especially instructive for all a double-barrel gun his wealthy would-be civic leaders. father had given him recently for For young scholars doing his birthday. It was no magic research projects, the author wand, but in the hands of the includes selected source notes, indefatigable Teedie this stick a bibliography, a chronology had powers of its own. “I have of TR’s life, and a list of places had great enjoyment from the associated with this extraordi- Cartoon of Roosevelt as a naturalist shooting here,” he told his aunt nary American that those of all by Oscar E. Cesare, c. 1916, gift of in a letter, “as I have procured ages will enjoy visiting. Valentine Cesare

Book Review 7 CURATOR’S CHOICE Thomas Edison Color woodcut poster engraved by Alfred S. Seer, c. 1878

Wendy Wick Reaves around the country under Curator of Prints the auspices of James and Drawings Redpath, the founder of a “It Talks! It Sings! It popular lyceum bureau or Laughs! It Plays Cornet lecture-booking agency. Songs.” Thus was This wood-engraved Thomas Edison’s early portrait is, in essence, a design for a phonograph show poster advertising introduced in this nearly the demonstrations of seven-foot-tall poster. Edison’s phonograph. The The exaggerated size blank space left purpose- and tone reminds us of fully at the top provided the intense excitement exhibitors the opportunity that greeted the first to fill in the particulars of announcements of Edi- time and place. son’s “talking machine” Edison did not accom- in the fall of 1877. By pany his machines on the December, Edison had circuit, but he appears filed for a patent, and a prominently in the description had appeared poster: the Brady image in Scientific American. of inventor and inven- His life would never be tion are blown up to quite the same again, as great size. At the bottom, hundreds, perhaps thou- circus poster rhetoric sands, of the curious informs the viewer of the traveled to Menlo Park, extraordinary machine’s New Jersey, to see him accomplishments. At the demonstrate his sensa- time, this image and the tional invention. Among man it represents would the skeptics was Bishop have been seen within John Vincent, who sus- the context of both the pected ventriloquist lyceum and the circus: tricks. He was finally a conflation of notions satisfied after shouting about education, enter- an unrepeatable recita- tainment, and national- tion of Old Testament istic pride in the ingenu- names into the machine ity of American inven- and hearing it played back to him. Newspaper tion. From our own perspective, this piece tells us stories incited speculation and rumors, as well as more about the man than the phonograph, which official invitations from Washington. So, on April was substantially redesigned before it became com- 18, 1878, Thomas Edison arrived in the nation’s mercially viable a decade later. The poster reminds capital, where he visited Joseph Henry, Secretary of us that Edison, far from being that lone genius of the Smithsonian. Demonstrations to congressmen, American fantasy, was very much a public figure. senators, and the President followed in quick suc- His ability, clearly demonstrated here, to keep his cession, and to cap off his newfound fame, Edison name, face, and reputation in the public eye con- also sat—with his machine—for a photograph at tributed in no small measure to his success. Mathew Brady’s studio. Later that day his recorded voice announced to an assembled audience that “the Further reading: Paul Israel, Edison: A Life of Invention speaking phonograph has the honor of presenting (New York: John Wiley, 1998); Neil Baldwin, Edison: itself before the American Academy of Sciences.” Inventing the Century (New York: Hyperion, 1995). Within months, a number of Edison’s “talking machines” had been manufactured for exhibition

8 Curator’s Choice Titian Ramsay Peale and the Great U.S. South Seas Exploring Expedition

museum, undoubtedly the best location in America at that time to study natural history. In 1833, Titian was elected to the American Philosophical Society, indicative of his stature in American scientific circles, and became acting manager of the Philadelphia Museum. Although lacking in academic cre- dentials, he was regarded by his peers as a top field naturalist, an expert taxidermist and illustrator, and a superb marksman. Titian had also participated in several exploring expeditions, the most significant being the Long, or Yellowstone, Expedi- tion to the American West in 1819. It was therefore not unex- pected when Peale was selected as a naturalist on the South Seas Expedition. The Ex. Ex. was a huge and ambitious undertaking for a republic little more than fifty years old. European naval explorations of this era typically consisted of one or two ships and were meant to serve the cause of both science and empire. With the Ex. Ex., the United States was eager to show the flag in one of the last uncharted regions of the world, the icy regions of the Antarctic Circle. But commerce, not empire (which America already had in its unexplored western ter- ritories), was the expedition’s major goal. Titian Ramsay Peale II self-portrait (possibly The vast crisscrossing track of the Ex. Ex. still takes one’s aided by Rembrandt Peale), c. 1845, gift of Edgar L. Smith Jr. breath away: first south to Cape Horn, with a side trip from there to the Antarctic, to the west coast of South America, then to Tahiti and the Fiji Islands and Australia, and from there a more extended exploration of Antarctica. The expedition then Sidney Hart backtracked to Australia and New Zealand, to the Fiji and Senior Historian and Editor of the Hawaiian Islands, and from there to another of its prime objec- Peale Family Papers tives, the Pacific Northwest, in order to explore that coast and On the sunny, breezy morning of August strengthen American claims to the Oregon Territory and the 18, 1838, the six sailing vessels of the San Francisco Bay. Next, the ships sailed to Manila, Singapore, South Seas Exploring Expedition, or Ex. around Cape Town, and to New York, concluding the last all- Ex. as it was called, were under way from sail circumnavigation of the world. the naval port of Hampton Roads, Vir- By any objective criteria the Ex. Ex. achieved its goals. The ginia. On board the ships, in addition to officers produced 241 highly accurate and precise naviga- all manner of navigational and scientific tional charts for the nation’s merchant and whaling vessels instruments and stores, were 346 men, that would sail the Pacific Ocean. including nine scientists and artists. For the first time, 1,500 miles of One of the scientists on the nation’s the Antarctic coast was charted, most ambitious expedition of exploration, giving the expedition’s commander, was Titian Ramsay Peale (1799–1885), Charles Wilkes, rightful claim as named after the famous Venetian artist the discoverer of that continent, by his father, Charles Willson Peale, the the coast of which still bears his celebrated portrait painter and museum name. The collections of exotic, proprietor. Titian’s birth in the Hall of the American Philosophical Society, the Continued on page 11 family’s living quarters and home of his father’s world-famous Philadelphia Titian Ramsay Peale’s drawings of Aprosmictus splendens and Museum, destined him for achievement Aprosmictus personatus, from in both art and science. He benefited Mammalogy and Ornithology by from extraordinary on-the-job training John Cassin, 1858. Smithsonian as he worked alongside his father in the Institution Libraries

Titian Ramsay Peale 9 A Moment in American Science ©Estate of Francis Bello ©Estate of Francis Bello Joshua Lederberg by Francis Bello, 1954, gift of Richard Feynman by Francis Bello, 1954, gift of Steve Steve Bello Bello

Ann M. Shumard the scientific community, the Fortune article, including the Curator of Photographs Oppenheimer investigation was boyish-looking molecular biolo- “What kind of man becomes an viewed by some as evidence of a gist James Dewey Watson (see outstanding scientist? Is there a rising tide of anti-intellectualism, cover). At twenty-six, Watson widening gulf between him and while others saw it as a harbin- was the youngest scientist to be the rest of society?” These were ger of enforced conformity that featured in the picture portfolio. some of the questions posed by threatened the independence He posed appropriately with a Fortune magazine’s award-win- essential to their work. three-dimensional model of the ning science editor Francis Bello It was against this backdrop DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in an article entitled “The Young that Francis Bello set out to better molecule whose double-helix Scientists.” Published fifty years understand the characteristics structure he had divined one year ago, in Fortune’s June 1954 that defined those attracted to earlier while working in partner- issue, the article appeared in the the rigorous demands of scien- ship with British biologist Francis wake of the controversy in which tific inquiry. Through interviews Crick. Aptly described by Watson the Atomic Energy Commis- with twenty promising scientists as “the secret of life,” this discov- sion revoked J. Robert Oppen- under the age of forty—ten from ery, which revealed the physical heimer’s security clearance and American universities and ten and chemical basis of heredity, terminated his contract as a from U.S. industry—and surveys was one of the most important government adviser, due largely completed by nearly one hundred scientific advances ever made. It to questions about his political of their peers, Bello created a opened the way to all manner of associations and his opposition fascinating collective profile of research and brought Watson to the development of the hydro- the new generation of American and his colleagues Crick and gen bomb. For many Americans, scientists at the very moment Maurice Wilkins the Nobel Oppenheimer’s professed naïveté when they were conducting the Prize in physiology or medicine of politics, popular culture, and research that would secure their in 1962 for “their discoveries world affairs raised questions place in history. concerning the molecular struc- about the degree to which sci- To illustrate his text, Bello ture of nucleic acids and its sig- entists were divorced from the photographed the twenty young nificance for information transfer contemporary scene. Within scientists highlighted in the in living material.”

10 A Moment in American Science When Bello photographed Continued from page 9 Joshua Lederberg at his micro- scope, the twenty-nine-year-old Titian Ramsay Peale professor of genetics at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin had already made several important break- previously unknown specimens, throughs. As a graduate student ethnographic objects, fossils, under Edward L. Tatum at Yale, plants, insects, birds, and mam- Lederberg demonstrated for the mals brought back by the scien- first time that bacteria can repro- tists overwhelmed the young duce sexually by conjugation to nation’s inadequate museum yield offspring that possess traits storage capacity, and as a result, from each parent organism. This helped promote the creation of revolutionary finding overturned a new national museum, the the prevailing view, which held Smithsonian Institution. that only asexual reproduction Cover of Fortune, June 1954. As an interim measure before Smithsonian Institution Libraries was possible in bacteria. After the Smithsonian Building was accepting a post at Wisconsin completed, the vast collec- much that was new in modern in 1947, Lederberg pioneered a tions were initially stored in physics, Feynman had a talent for method for isolating mutations of the Patent Office Building (now making physics principles acces- a bacteria species and succeeded home of the National Portrait sible to a broad audience. This in proving that genetic mutations Gallery), where they drew huge was apparent when, as a member occur spontaneously. With his crowds. Although Titian was of the commission investigating discovery in 1952 of transduction later to have difficulty in pub- the Challenger space shuttle acci- in bacteria—the phenomenon in lishing his account of the voyage, dent in 1986, Feynman plunged a which the transfer of chromo- his contributions as a natural- piece of O-ring material into of a somal fragments from one cell ist were prodigious: 2,150 birds, glass of ice water to demonstrate to another alters the genetic code 134 mammals, and 588 species that the resilience of the rubbery of the recipient cell—Lederberg of fish. A multitude of exquisite substance was compromised at laid the foundation for the field drawings and paintings also freezing temperatures. of genetic engineering. Cited for bear his name. “his discoveries concerning genetic In his Fortune article Francis Bello quoted an eminent senior recombination and the organiza- Further reading: Nathaniel Philbrick, tion of the genetic material of bac- scientist as saying, “None of us is wise enough to know who Sea of Glory, America’s Voyage of teria” Lederberg shared the Nobel Discovery: The U.S. Exploring Expe- Prize for physiology or medicine may be doing the research that dition, 1838–1842 (New York: Viking, in 1958. will be considered of first mag- 2003); Jessie Poesch, ed., Titian At the time of Fortune’s survey, nitude ten or fifteen years from Ramsay Peale and His Journals of theoretical physicist Richard Feyn- now.” In light of that observation, the Wilkes Expedition (Philadelphia: it is remarkable to realize that in American Philosophical Society, 1961); man was thirty-six years old and see also the website of the Museum of a recent recipient of the coveted a little more than a decade, fully one-quarter of the twenty young Natural History, http://www.sil.si.edu/ Albert Einstein Award. Trained digitalcollections/usexex. at MIT and Princeton, he played scientists featured in Bello’s arti- a critical role in the develop- cle had secured a Nobel Prize. ment of the atomic bomb during World War II, and was described Further reading: Francis Bello, “The by Manhattan Project director J. Young Scientists,” Fortune, June 1954; Robert Oppenheimer as “by all to learn more about the J. Robert Oppenheimer controversy, see United The NPG’s Peale Family odds the most brilliant young States Atomic Energy Commission, Papers will publish a physicist [at Los Alamos].” After in the Matter of J. Robert Oppen- selection of Titian Peale’s the war, Feynman focused his heimer: Transcript of Hearing before images from the Ex. Ex. in energies on problems in quantum Personnel Security Board and Texts volume 6 of The Selected theory, first at Cornell and then of Principal Documents and Letters, Papers of Charles Willson with a foreword by Philip Stern (Cam- at Caltech. Within four years he Peale (forthcoming). had completed the work in quan- bridge: MIT Press, 1970), and Gregg Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb: tum electrodynamics that would The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of earn him a shared Nobel Prize in Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Law- physics in 1965. Credited with rence, and Edward Teller (New York: providing the means to explain Henry Holt, 2002). �

A Moment in American Science 11 Science in Our Lives American Research Pioneers

Carol Wyrick Education Program Director CHARLES DREW From the race against polio in In 1940, with German bombers Drew became medical director the 1950s to more recent con- dropping their deadly cargoes of a three-month American Red daily on its cities, England stood Cross pilot project responsible cerns about environmental pol- in desperate need of blood for its for the mass production of dried lution and the global threat of thousands of wounded civilians. plasma. It was largely thanks to To fill this shortage, the British his expertise that this enterprise HIV/AIDS, a diverse cadre of turned to the African American was able to save so many lives American scientists has emerged doctor Charles Drew (1904–1950), during World War II. Shortly a pioneer in the field of the preser- after the United States entered over the years to take on these vation and storage of blood. While the war in December 1941, the and other challenges endemic to in the process of completing a American Red Cross ordered that the modern age. The pioneering Rockefeller Foundation Research the national blood program store Fellowship at Columbia University all African American blood sepa- work of Charles Drew, Jonas (1938–40), Drew had written his rately. Drew—who had returned Salk, Rachel Carson, and David dissertation on a technique for to Howard University in April the preservation of blood plasma. to resume work in the resident Ho illustrates how scientists By separating the plasma from training program in surgery— approach problems and engineer the whole blood and then refrig- expressed his strong opposition erating both parts separately, he to this policy, noting that it had solutions, while often serving as found they could be combined up no medical or scientific basis. catalysts for applied research by to a week later for a transfusion. A noted teacher, Drew had had others. The contributions of these Drew also discovered that every- a part in training more than half one has the same type of plasma, of the certified African American four pathfinders, assessed collec- so in cases where a whole blood surgeons in this country by the tively, have inexorably altered transfusion was not necessary, a time of his death in an automobile plasma transfusion could safely accident. and improved many aspects of be administered, regardless of the the way we live our lives today. patient’s blood type. In early 1941,

JONAS SALK President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio survivor developed by Dr. Albert Sabin and licensed for use himself, established the National Foundation for in 1962, eventually supplanting the Salk vaccine. Infantile Paralysis in January 1938. The founda- The widespread use of the vaccine has virtually tion, a unique partnership of professional scientists eliminated this disease; the World Health Organi- and volunteers, funded research to develop a vac- zation expects the world to be polio-free by 2005. cine for eradicating poliomyelitis, the crippling dis- ease that infected as many as 50,000 people in the United States each year. Dr. Jonas Salk (1914–1995), one of many researchers who received foundation funding, developed the first vaccine to be approved for nationwide testing. Statistics showed that this experimental killed-virus vaccine was 80 to 90 percent effective in preventing polio in more than one million school children who participated in the 1954 field trials. The vaccine was approved by the government in 1955, and 450 million doses were administered over the next four years. A live-virus vaccine—administered orally and offering longer ©Arnold Newman ©Arnold immunity, indefinite storage in deep-freeze units, Jonas Salk by Arnold Newman, 1975, gift of Arnold and inexpensive production techniques—was later Newman

12 Science in Our Lives DAVID HO Although public awareness of AIDS increased greatly after the death of Rock Hudson in 1985, the race to identify the disease’s cause, develop methods of pre- vention, and discover cures for those already infected had begun years earlier. Dr. David Ho, one of the early pioneers in HIV/AIDS research, first began treating people infected with HIV as chief medical resident at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1981, even before the dis- Charles Drew by Betsy Graves David Ho by Gregory Heisler, 1996, ease had a name. He and other Reyneau, c. 1953, gift of the gift of Time magazine physicians at the hospital had Harmon Foundation begun to treat previously healthy homosexual men for infections that normally do not manifest themselves in people with intact RACHEL CARSON immune systems. “It became “I can remember no time when clear that this was a growing I wasn’t interested in . . . the epidemic,” Ho later recalled. whole world of nature,” biolo- He was the first researcher to gist Rachel Carson (1907–1964) determine that the virus grows once noted, and her long career in long-lived immune cells called dedicated to studying the envi- macrophages and that the dis- ronment provides testimony to ease cannot be spread by kiss- the truth of that statement. But ing, since saliva does not carry Carson was not just a scientist; enough of the active virus. As she was a writer, and her often- the scientific director and CEO lyrical books on nature were of the Aaron Diamond AIDS valued for both their scientific Research Center in New York and literary merits. The pub- City since 1990, Ho has contin- lication of The Sea Around Us ued to advance research in the in 1951 first drew public atten- field, resulting most recently in tion to her ability to translate the trials of new experimental the complexities of biological vaccines to prevent the onset Rachel Carson by Una Hanbury, science into clear and beautiful 1965 of AIDS. Today, there are cur- language. Carson’s most impor- rently more than twenty differ- tant book, however, is probably ity and helped to turn concern for ent AIDS vaccines in various The Silent Spring, first published ecology into a mass movement. stages of development and test- in 1962. Both a description of The Rachel Carson Trust for the ing across the globe, providing nature’s wonders and a warn- Living Environment (now the hope that current projections ing about the danger of chemi- Rachel Carson Council) extends of as many as sixty-eight mil- cal pesticides such as DDT to the work of this environmental lion deaths from AIDS infection plants, animals, and humans, pioneer through the continuous between 2000 and 2020 can be The Silent Spring, while raising compilation and dissemination significantly reduced. a great deal of controversy, also of information on chemical pes- created a new public conscious- ticides and alternative methods ness of the environment’s fragil- of pest control.

Science in Our Lives 13 NPG on the Road

Most of the National Portrait Gallery’s traveling shows have The National Portrait Gallery’s painting of renowned educator and concluded their tours or are innovator of agricultural sciences George Washington Carver by approaching their final venues. Betsy Graves Reyneau, along with its portrait of William Henry However, the Gallery will main- Harrison by Rembrandt Peale, will be on loan to the Arkansas tain its visibility with the exhi- Arts Center for the exhibition “Art and the Oval Office,” from bitions “Gilbert Stuart” and November 17, 2004, through January 23, 2005. The exhibition, “Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin consisting of forty-five objects that were lent to the White House American Portraits.” “Gilbert from the Kennedy through the Clinton administrations, will coin- Stuart” highlights one of the cide with the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential most celebrated portraitists of Library in Little Rock. America’s early national period, and is co-organized with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This exhibition includes more than ninety of Stuart’s extraor- dinary works, with a focus on his portraits of George Washing- ton, including NPG’s renowned “Lansdowne” painting. “Retra- tos,” organized jointly with the San Antonio Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio, provides the first compelling survey of Latin American portraiture from North, Central, and South Amer- ica, as well as the Caribbean. It William Henry Harrison by contains more than one hundred George Washington Carver by Rembrandt Peale, c. 1815; gift of works in a variety of media. Both Betsy Graves Reyneau, 1942; gift Mrs. Herbert Lee Pratt, Jr. exhibitions will have venues in of the George Washington Carver Memorial Committee to the Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Institution, 1944

Lansdowne Featuring the famous “Lans- The National Portrait Gallery was Tour downe” full-length portrait of able to purchase this major icon of Little Rock, Arkansas, George Washington by Gilbert the nation’s first President through Arkansas Arts Center Stuart, “George Washington: A the generosity of the Donald W. National Treasure” is currently at Reynolds Foundation, which also its final tour venue—the Arkansas provided funding for its tour to Arts Center—through August 22. museums across the country. Portrait of a Nation: Tour Itinerary

Portrait of a Nation encompasses Women of Our Time: American Women: a series of exhibitions organized Twentieth-Century A Selection from the by the National Portrait Gallery Photographs National Portrait Gallery while the Patent Office Build- North Carolina Museum of Naples Museum of Art, Florida ing is closed for renovation. For History, Raleigh January 7–April 3, 2005 further information, contact the May 28– August 1, 2004 Department of Exhibitions and Final venue: Columbia Collections Management: Final venue: George Bush Museum of Art, South Carolina phone: (202) 275-1777 Presidential Library & April 30–July 10, 2005 fax: (202) 275-1897 Museum, College Station, Texas e-mail: [email protected] October 8, 2004–January 2, 2005

14 NPG on the Road NPG at Home Norman Foster and Partners Useful Contacts

to Design POB Atrium Enclosure The Gallery’s mailing address is P.O. Box 37012, MRC 973 Washington, DC 20013–7012. The main telephone number is (202) 275-1738. Catalog of American Portraits phone: (202) 275-1840 Visualization of web: www.npg.si.edu and aerial view of the click on Search POB courtyard e-mail: [email protected] roof at night by Foster and Partners Office of Conservation Conservation consultations are available for the public on Thursdays from 10:00 Following an international competition, renowned architect Norman a.m. to 12:00 p.m. by appointment only. Foster of Foster and Partners was selected to design the Patent Office phone: CindyLou Molnar Building’s courtyard enclosure. A hallmark of the historic building’s (301) 238-2006 renovation, the glass covering over the 28,000-square-foot courtyard (for paintings and sculpture) will transform the setting into a year-round event space for the National e-mail: [email protected] Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The new phone: Rosemary Fallon (301) 238-2001 atrium will be flexible to accommodate a variety of functions, such as (for art on paper) performances, receptions, art installations, and special events. During e-mail: [email protected] the day, it will also serve as seating for the museums’ café. The dynamic space will be one of the largest event spaces in Washington, D.C. Library “It was important to us that the renovation include a contemporary phone: (202) 275-1912 addition to this nineteenth-century landmark building,” said NPG web: www.siris.si.edu (for the library’s catalog) Director Marc Pachter. “The covered courtyard is the Smithsonian’s e-mail: [email protected] twenty-first-century contribution to the building’s exuberance.” The final design for the atrium is expected this summer; all construc- Office of External Affairs tion will be completed by early 2006. The total cost of the enclosure is phone: (202) 275-1764 estimated at $35 million and is being raised from private contributors. e-mail: [email protected] Foster and Partners has worked on projects with many museums, both in the United States and abroad, including the award-winning Great Office of Education Court at the British Museum in London. Foster’s first U.S. museum For information about school and commu- commission was at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, in nity programs, teacher resources, intern- ships, and upcoming events: 1994. Currently, the firm is working on several other cultural projects, phone: (202) 275-1811 such as the master plan for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Avery web: www.npg.si.edu and Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. click on Education or Events & Programs Top: sectional e-mail: [email protected] model view through Office of Photographic Services courtyard phone: (202) 275-1791 enclosure by web: www.npg.si.edu Nigel Young/ and click on Rights & Foster and Reproductions Partners e-mail: [email protected]

Bottom: Office of Publications longitudinal Visit the NPG website to order NPG section through publications. courtyard phone: (202) 275-1870 enclosure by web: www.npg.si.edu and Foster and click on Publications Partners e-mail: [email protected]

NPG at Home 15 Portrait Puz z lers 1. 2. 3. 4. © Michael Katakis © Michael “And awaaay we go” Known for both his A last-place graduate of Her design garnered only was the trademark line classical and popular West Point, this general a B in her Yale architec- of this early television music, this half of a died at the Battle of ture class but won the star. talented team of broth- Little Big Horn. commission for Vietnam ers wrote “Porgy and Veterans Memorial in

Bess.” Washington.

All images are details. are images All Katakis. George father, his of memory in Katakis Michael of gift 1988, print,

(born 1959) by Michael Katakis. Gelatin silver silver Gelatin Katakis. Michael by 1959) (born Lin Maya 4. 1859. c. Ambrotype, artist. unidentified an by 1876)

(1839– Custer Armstrong George 3. 1936. canvas, on Oil auffman. K Arthur by (1898–1937) Gershwin George 2.

magazine. Time of gift 1961, Masonite, on Casein Hoban. Russell by (1916–1987) Gleason Jackie 1. Answers:

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