In The Search For Life by

ROBERT T. DrxoN

The publication of a book is about as close as a man can come to giving birth. During its four-year pregnancy, .. .. there are birth pains, those are the deadlines one has to meet. But then there is a complete release at the time of publication to enjoy the newborn child and to receive compliments like, "Isn't she beautiful," or "You must be proud." This becomes a time of assessment of just who RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE was involved in making such a venture possible. ANNUAL FACULTY LECTURES All our lives are influenced by other people, some­ The Faculty Lecturer is chosen each year by vot~ of times unseen, content to work behind the scenes. Often his colleagues to deliver an address on a schola~ly sub1ect we fail to recognize who it is that has been most effective of general interest. The series was inaugurated m 1961 by in providing opportunities for us to become the person Associate Professor Cecil Stalder. Other Faculty Le~tur~ we are capable of becoming. You would surely call such ers have been Professors Lee Gladden, Thomas Meidell a person a friend. I had a friend who took me on a field Johnson, Howard Burton,. David. Mac~uish, J~hn R. trip to Griffith Planetarium. Spe was my fifth grade Horton, Allan 0. Kirkpatrick, Keith Bailor, Cecil John- teacher, Miss Laura Stroud. Another friend made me son, and Richard Schneider. write so many papers I lost my fear of writing: She was my ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Close. The man who prompts this reminiscing was my math professor in college. He taught me more about how to teach than all the education courses combined. He said, "It's more important to teach than to show how much you know." The sad part is that I never expressed to Professor Beegle my feeling and now it's too late. While in college I met a friend who said "yes" when I said "will you" and she has done nothing but help me become a more complete person since that time, my wife Marian. Then there was a man who joined me for lunch in the Commons at the University of Wisconsin and who Cover design by Richard Cantu - 3 - student artist spirit of this college and who has worked for the past has been a friend always, Pres. Ralph Bradshaw. Even fourteen years, without financial compensation, to pro­ before that I had come in contact with R.C.C . through vide you, the students, with the very best opportunity for the Dean of Extended Day. He not only hired me to an education. The facilities and the programs now avail­ teach a night class but he forced me to think straight. able to you at R.C.C. are better and broader than ever When I came to him with a half-baked idea, he shot it before offered. A large share of all that R.C.C. is today down every time. When I came with a valid, well-thought must be to the credit of Mrs. Carolyn Diffenbaugh. out argument, he bought it. I always knew where I stood and I appreciated that. A man who works behind the I wish to introduce one more friend but must wait scenes to efficiently administer, for each one of you, these until nearer the end of our session today. facilities for the educational process, Mr. John Ohmen. •I Then there was a man we see a lot of as teachers. He Man has always exhibited an interest in life, yet his was a book salesman by the name of Bob Howland. Bob search has taken many different directions and has been walked into my office as he might on almost any day, but pursued at various level. I would like to quickly survey this day was different for me because he said to me, "How typical approaches and then proceed to what I would term would you like to write a book?" and that's the way it a cosmic approach to our search for life. I am going to began. I am deeply grateful to him-that was four and pass over the most obvious approach, that of anthropol­ one-half years ago . ogy, because I assume that you are familiar with the advancement of this science in its search for the origin There is a source of friendship which we seldom and evolution of life. draw upon as faculty, that of interacting with our col­ leagues. One day I had a problem, trying to illustrate I will pass to something I am more qualified to talk adequately the motions of a comet for the text. I took about. In 1877 an Italian observer name Schiaparelli an idea to a colleague to see what he thought. He came described a network of straight lines which he observed up with a better suggestion. Why not use the Walt Dis­ on the planet Mars. Later an American astronomer named ney approach of cartooning? Thereby, Professor Kroger Percival Lowell allowed his imagination to build on these gave me an idea which grew into one of the most unique observations, speculating that this network of lines con­ features of the book. After the book was in the works, sisted of canals which had been dug by the little Martians a former student came to me and said, "Aren't you going to irrigate their fields and transport their produce by to need some help typing? I'd like to be a part of the barges. The surface of Mars does take on a greenish-brown project." Her only compensation was just that, being a appearance in the Martian spring, turning brown in the part of the project. Bessie Weigel both criticized, con­ summer, thus suggesting the possibility of vegetation. structively, and typed the entire manuscript. I have one While we still see these straight line features today as we other friend who is very important to me. She typed the look through a telescope, we have had several superior teacher's manual and she does many things each day views of the planet Mars using space probes which fly by which make life easier for me, our division secretary, and radio back TV closeups of the planet. These pictures Janet Hardcastle. show no such canals and no hint of vegetation but rather While there are many other friends who relate to a barren, era tered surface somewhat like the moon. Yet R.C.C., there is one who, in my mind, epitomizes the researchers who have duplicated the soil and atmospheric -4- .5. conditions which exist on Mars and with the aid of ultra­ from which we might ask the fundamental question, violet radiation, now have indications that organic ma­ "What is life, what differentiates the living from the terial may be developing there at the present time. So non-living, and what factors are essential for the origin there is still hope that life may one day be found on of life?" Persons competent to answer these questions Mars. Even today a probe is being launched which will paint a picture of a very simple beginning, then a very reach Mars in November, will be placed in orbit around long series of minute changes, occurring over millions of the planet, and will take over 1,000 photographs as com­ years, which resulted in the present state of all living ma­ pared to the 100 we have taken thus far. The question terial. They would specify that the essential elements of life on Mars may be answered in 1975 when we land which are necessary as building blocks for life as we know a probe on its surface, dig up some Martian soil, and ., it are hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, and analyze it to determine any organic content. sulfur, all examples of non-living matter. When these elements are combined in the correct proportion and If we find no evidence of life, even in its simplest energy is supplied, as from the sun, life may be created. form on Mars, our hopes will be substantially lessened for From that point forward in time and with the process of finding life on any other planet in our solar system. Our reproducing itself, a single living cell or conglomerate of consideration of temperature alone would discourage us, cells changes to create new forms. This process of re­ for Mercury ranges from 650 ° F on its sunlit side to 450° peated creation events is called evolution. below zero on its dark side, a difference of ll00° between day and night time readings. Venus boasts a high of In no sense is the process of evolution in conflict 1300° F and a low of 400 °. There is a possibility that, in with the events of creation. Evolution is a process; crea­ the clouds of Venus, where the temperature is more rea­ tion is an event which produces a new form, distinct from sonable ( 30° F) life might develop and actually change other forms. Does creation mean something from nothing? the very nature of that planet. Living organisms could Was the first living cell created from nothing? Absolutely change the makeup of its atmosphere and perhaps make not. "\Ve have already established the necessity for hydro­ it more suitable for life. This we would think of as the gen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur. evolution of the planet to bring it to a condition within But what of the origin of these elements? How were they which life might be sustained. On the other hand, Jupiter created? There is no evidence that such elements are and all those planets beyond are so far from the sun that being created on earth today or that they ever have been. their temperatures range downward from a high of 200° It is true that combinations of elements (compounds) below zero to 450° below zero, just about as cold as any­ are being formed, but not the elements themselves ( ex­ thing can get. While it may not be impossible for life to cept a few radioactive derivatives). Then how does it develop and survive at these temperatures, it seems highly happen that the earth contains these elements? In the improbable. Only Mars, with its more earth-like range next few minutes, I hope to answer this question and of temperatures ( +100° to-200° F), appears a reason­ another, the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. able habitat. We should not stop with a search of only the planets But haven't we made a basic assumption that life of our own solar system, for our sun is like one grain of exists only in forms at least similar to those we experience sand on the beaches of this earth as compared to the on earth? This assumption is merely a starting point, myriad of other stars which compose the known universe.

- 6- -7- In order to discuss the possibility of other stars possessing a year (6 trillion miles). The telescope extends that view planets on which life might exist, it seems appropriate to of the Milky Way galaxy to approximately 75,000 light look to the origin and evolution of stars in general. Here years, revealing many of its estimated 100 billion stars. we will find, in a sense, a parallel to the approach men The next logical step out into space would carry us have taken to try to discover the origin and evolution of to another galaxy, a collection of stars separated from our living organisms on this earth. The astronomer has one own Milky \Vay galaxy by virtually empty space. One significant advantage. The ancient history which he stud­ such galaxy is within the grasp of the naked eye, if viewed ies is still current when he perceives it. This sounds like under ideal seeing conditions. It is the Great Galaxy in double-talk for how can something that is old be per­ Andromeda, located so far from us that its light requires ceived as being in its youth? .. over two million years to get to our eyes. First, let's consider the relationship between space But let's halt this space travel long enough to see and time. Albert Einstein thought that time and space how the ancient history of the universe is beginning to so entwined that he called time the fourth dimension. I reveal itself. Since our sun is only 8Yi minutes away, as think we can show their relationship by considering light, light travels, if it went out you would not know it until 8Y2 the primary means by which the astronomer studies his minutes later. If Sirius went out, you wouldn't know it subject. Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per for 8Yi years; or Rigel, 8Y2 centuries; but for the Androm­ second. This is one of the big numbers of astronomy, but eda Galaxy there is a delay of over 2 million years. This big numbers lose their meaning unless visualized. Let's is to say that when the astronomer studies the stars in imagine flying southward to the equator, then flying that galaxy, he sees them as they were 2 million years ago, around the earth directly over the equator. Suppose our not as they are today. On the other hand, Andromeda is jet has unlimited speed capabilities and it accelerates one of our nearer neighbors as galaxies go; hence this until it is traveling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles effect will only increase as we journey onward. per second, and you're on it. You would then be capable of making 7Y2 complete trips around the earth in one If we think of the Andromeda Galaxy as our first second. giant step out into space, we will not run out of known With this in mind, what is indicated if we say that objects until we have taken at least 3000 more steps just light from the moon requires 1 Y2 seconds to reach us, or like the first, with each step equal to 2 million light years. that the light of the sun requires 8Y2 minutes? This is a Then 3000 such steps will carry us to a distance of 6 billion statement of time, yet it indicates distance because we light years, the likely home of the quasars. As we look know how fast light travels. Let's push out to Pluto, at such objects, we are witnessing a part of the universe, outermost planet of our solar system. The light from as it existed 6 billion years ago, at least one billion years Pluto requires 5~ hours to reach us. Next let's move to before the sun or earth or moon were created. the brightest star we see called Sirius. Its light requires Recent dating of moon rock samples suggest that the 8Yi years to reach us. Another bright star, Rigel, requires moon is about 4Y2 billion years old, an age which agrees 850 years. Even without a telescope we may see stars in very closely with the estimated age of the earth and sun, our own galaxy at distances in the order of 10,000 light which tends to suggest a common origin of these three years. A light year is equal to the distance light travels in objects and perhaps of the entire solar system. But what -8- -9- do we know of origins of stars and galaxies 5 or 6 or 10 in its nucleus and one electron orbiting around the center. billion years ago? We may be actually witnessing the To visualize the nature of the atom, imagine sitting in a birth of galaxies when we observe the most distant qua­ large stadium. The nucleus may be pictured as a golf ball sars, but we need not leave our own Milky Way galaxy placed at the center of the playing field, and a small gnat nor go so far back in time to witness the creation of stars. flying around the outside of the stadium may represent the electron. You can see that the atom is mostly empty In spite of the fact that all of man's recorded history space. Helium is the next more complicated atom, with is but a moment when compared to the time scale of the equivalent of four golf balls ( protons and neutrons) stars and galaxies, he is still privileged to see examples of in the center and two gnats (electrons). Progressing to each stage in the life cycle of a star. For, like men, stars , .,. heavier elements, we come to carbon with twelve golf are being continuously created, and they too go through a balls (protons and neutrons) and six gnats (electrons), life cycle. It is, in fact, here that he seeks clues to the and so most elements have been formed in the cores of origin of the sun, the earth and to life itself. Evidence is very hot stars. building that we may witness the birth of several new stars in the region of the Orion Nebula within the next Then in the case of some of these stars with very hot 40 years. This is rather remarkable when you think that cores, an explosion occurs, producing a super nova, a star a star pregnancy requires, on the average, about 100,000 which brightens until it may be seen in the daytime. ( sometimes one million) years. The heavier elements are thrown off into space and inter­ mixed with hydrogen gas, as revealed by spectral analysis; What happens during this time, and why does it later to be gathered up as suns, planets and eventually happen within a nebula? A nebula is a huge cloud of people like you and me. What I'm saying is that at least gas and dust, whose particles are in continual motion in some of the atoms which compose this planet and your a random fashion. However, the word random should body are the same atoms which were created in the cores not be construed to mean uncontrolled. For if under the of very hot stars and then spewed out into space when influence of a force called gravity the motions of a suffici­ the star became a super nova. ent number of atoms move toward a common point, a How long ago must this have happened? Is the uni­ chain reaction may result in which additional atoms are verse old enough that some stars could have evolved to a attracted to this same region. The result, very high tem­ supernova stage before our sun was created? The answer perature and pressure, and H-bombs start going off. A to this question is based on the fact that the astronomer star is born, and from its surplus material the planets are observes the universe as an expanding universe, every formed. Once stabilized, a star spends much of itsJife galaxy moving away from every other galaxy; and those converting hydrogen to helium; but later _it may change that are farther appear to be moving faster. Now if we its nature quite drastically, becoming a red giant, a vari­ know the distance to a galaxy and how fast it is moving able star. In still later stages, the star may become much we can calculate how long it took to get to its present hotter and instead of manufacturing helium, it proceeds position. Such calculations would set the age of the uni­ to manufacture heavier elements like nitrogen, carbon, verse at approximately 10 billion years, ample time for and sulfur. stars to form, evolve and erupt as super novae, spewmg The simplest atom, hydrogen, has only one particle their heavier elements back into space. - 10- -11- Other approaches to dating the universe result in a planet, we might detect its presence by the star's motion. ages between 10 and 30 billion years, but there was a A single star, with no planets, would move in a straight beginning. If we could reverse time and all the processes line through space; but the presence of planets would of evolution, we might visualize all the material of the produce a wavy motion in the star's motion. Barnard's universe turning back into hydrogen gas and moving back star is such a star. into a single region of space. The clump of material is It is rather interesting to speculate concerning the often called the primordial atom and the tremendous problems of communication with intelligent beings, if explosion which set it on its way is called the Big Bang. they do exist, on a planet at a distance of perhaps 1,000 But what of the origin of the primordial atom and the light years. If we sent a radio message to such a being, forces which caused it to explode? These questions no it would take 1,000 years to get there and 1,000 years for scientist has answered. Or what of man's creation on this the answer to return. That's not much of a dialogue, is it? kind of time scale? The scientist estimates that the cre­ ative step which produced man occurred no more than Our discussion to this point has dealt with a search two million years ago. \Vhat he would call modern man for physical life and yet physical life and health become is probably not over one-half million years old. important to the individual only when he appears in If the life span of the universe ( 20 billion years) danger of losing it. The apathetic attitude toward solving were compared to the life span of a man (70 years) then the smog problem tends to prove this statement. the last evolutionary step which produced modern man I perceive that many of you, the youth of today, are required only one day. I think that this analogy is quite saying that the physical life is not enough, that life does significant when we realize that the traditional hangup not consist in the abundance of things, but rather that between "Evolutionists" and "Creationists" is centered there is another dimension to life. It is a dimension in this matter of time. To be specific, the Bible states which says that it is more important to relate to people that man was created in a day, the scientists say it took than it is to things. This involves feelings and emotions, at least a million years. Perhaps the difference is only a aspects of life which we might term non-physical, aspects matter of perspective. of life which cannot be described organically. For in­ Let's leave that topic temporarily to answer the final stance, can you tell me where love or hate resides in your question we posed, regarding the possibility of life exist­ body? These are not attributes which can be analyzed ing on planets which orbit other stars in our galaxy or in the biochemist's test tube. Let me illustrate. Consider anywhere in the universe. We have reviewed theories a very simple physical activity, a handshake. \Vhile al­ regarding the formation of the sun ( a star) and the earth most anyone could describe the physical aspects of a ( a planet) and we cannot help but surmise that similar handshake, the real significance of a handshake is non~ processes take place throughout the universe. Astronomers physical and eludes description by anyone except the per­ conservatively estimate that 100,000 other stars, out of sons involved. A handshake, although given in the same the 100 billion in our galaxy, are almost identical to our way physically, may have a wide range of non-physical sun; hence it is reasonable to assume that many of these interprestations - from a big fat nothing to a sexual are circled by planets on which living forms may have experience. Yet the interpretation depends almost en­ been created. \Vhile we would not expect to see such tirely upon a non-physical relationship between the two -12- -13- parties involved. The one party may not fully know what that absolute truth does not exist or that it cannot be the other party is experiencing at this point in time be­ known, and yet those same people practice judgment cause the non-physical world of the individual is always based on some element of truth. Even if eve ry external private to some degree. The innermost being of one ethic were removed, every person has a knowledge of person cannot be known to another. truth to a certain degree. It is not man's inability to know Friendship is another aspect of life whose very es­ truth that frustrates his life, but rather the imbalance sence is non-physical. Again, friendship does not reside between what he knows to be true and what he lives out in any fixed organ of the body. We all experience it to every day. varying degrees but cannot explain exactly what it is. There are essentially two ways to bring the "Actual However, the lack of explanation does not hinder us from Me" into balance with the "Potential Me" One is by enjoying it. The expressions of friendship may be physical, the denial of what I know to be true, thus reducing my such as giving of gifts or fixing a faucet or whatever, but concept of the "Potential Me." The immediate result of the physical expression never is friendship itself. such a procedure may be a reduction in frustration, but If I could break into the privacy of your non-physical the end result is emptiness. On the other hand, to hold world and look at the aspects of life you hold most im­ to what is known to be true and implement this in one's portant, I think I would find, in addition to friendship, life always produces a more advanced level of living. I am love ( perhaps near the top of the list), wisdom ( the firmly convinced that to live out the truth one knows is knowledge of truth), peace, freedom, happiness. the gateway to a greater understanding of truth, but I am equally aware of the frustrations and apparent limitations The search for truth and the ability to love are two one experiences in this attempt. The net result of the of the most demanding but rewarding aspects of life. attempt is, however, a degree of inner peace, peace with When I speak of love being demanding, I do not refer oneself. to physical love, which the Greeks called eros and from which derives the word erotic. This is the animal level of The noted psychologist, Carl Jung, said, "About a loving; however, erotic forms of love become beautiful third of my cases are not suffering from any clinically when they are expressions of a higher level of loving which definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and aim­ the Greeks termed phileo. This is the level of loving lessness of their live." If we were to assess the general which places one's concern for his partner on a par with trend in America today, we would have to conclude that his concern for himself. It is a love which causes a person more is being subtracted from the "Potential Me" than is to give of himself to others. Perhaps the hardest thing to being added to the "Actual Me." give is time, time to listen, time to communicate, time to really know the other person. Love is kind, love is pa­ The signs are materialism, the ism of getting all -one tient, love never seeks its own desires. Man, that's de­ can get by whatever means. It enters big business in the manding, and frustrating too, because it seems so unreach­ form of money considerations placed ahead of people able; yet it is this possibility for a higher level of loving considerations, and it takes the form of undue expenditure which separates man from animal. of natural resources and pollution because it's cheaper that way. Materialism enters into politics when it be­ What about this matter of truth? Some would say comes more important that the "right people" be served -14- - 15 - than that "all people" be served. It enters our personal he'd never ask me to do that. But that isn't all he said. lives when the profit motive supplants the love motive and He said, "If you have seen me, you have seen God," for robs us of the time and will to love others. He claimed to be the Son of God. Many of the people who heard Him cried, "Blasphemer," while only a few Scientism is another insidious threat to the moral recognized the truth of His statements. Who called Him strength of America and to the individual. Many people a liar? It was the religious leaders of that day, those who who condemn science because it produced the atom bomb had power and feared its loss, those who thought they had or for some other reason are worshipping science as a the world by the tail, those who thought they had all the god. They expect miracles from their god. They think answers to life. What a parallel today! that they can go on polluting this earth and somehow the But who recognized the truth He spoke? There was scientist will save them with some cure-all method of air Matthew, a tax collector who did not fear the sure loss of purification, resource replenishment or new fuels, etc. I his job because of this new-found friendship. There were would suggest that the solution does not lie with the James and John, fishermen who had fished all day and scientist but with the individual. had caught nothing, but who at His word lowered their I see one more "ism," that of the worship of the nets and caught more fish than they could pull in, then physical. If there is one clear-cut distinction between man left all to follow Him. There was Luke, a doctor who and animal, it is the capacity of man to transcend the had a very high income, but who evidently thought it was physical. I have made that point earlier. Yet many more important to follow Christ than to make money. people today are giving themselves to physical pursuits There was Simon, a member of a political party which which represent compromise with their innermost selves, advocated the overthrow of the Roman government. His thus denuding themselves of much of what they life was revolutionized when he met Christ, and he pro­ know to be true. Ultimately, they wake up to find only claimed the truth of God's word to everyone he met. emptiness. There were thousands of others, from all walks of life, who also believed that Christ was the Son of God. To define a problem and not suggest a solution would Now comes the most important question that you be absurd, and yet this is precisely where many academic or I will ever ask. Were these people fooled? Is Jesus disciplines have left us. Any solution which has been Christ the Son of God, or is He the biggest liar who ever suggested is of the "do it yourself" variety. Furthermore, lived? I don't see any middle ground at this point. When a careful analysis of most world religions must fall in this He said, "I have come to give you life, that your living same category. I have experienced nothing more frustrat­ may be full and meaningful," or "Through my death you ing than to sit in a place of religious instruction and be may know God personally," were these just empty words p_resented with elements of truth in relation to my own or were they the very words of Zif e? life, which I could accept and then go from that place Though shelves of libraries are lined with books pro powerless to practice these truths. and con on this question, you will not find the answer One day I realized that I had a friend whom I had there. In fact, you will never know the answer unless known for sometime, but yet I had never really heard you are willing to perform an experiment. It is a non­ what he was saying. He told me I ought to love my physical experiment, but let me first illustrate using a neighbor as myself. Man, if he only knew my neighbor, physical one. The Greek philosophers of the second and - 16- - 17 - third centuries had agreed that if two objects of different this truth, in practice, that has led to frustration in the masses ( different weights) were simultaneously dropped lives of many persons. from a high place, the heavier one would surely hit the What kind of an experiment can you perform which ground first. This was a very reasonable theory indeed. will answer the questions concerning Christ's identity? It So reasonable was the theory that no one bothered to must be of a voluntary nature, something you decide to perform any such experiment, until Galileo arrived on do yourself. The experiment is simply an act of inviting the scene in the late 1500's. He must have reasoned ... Christ to enter your Zif e as the controller of all that you why buy a theory about which you can perform an experi­ are and all that you do and accept Him for exactly who ment and see for yourself if it is true or false? Galileo He said He is. I'm not talking about just another religion, selected a number of objects of different mass (weight) ., a religion for those who are afraid to die, but rather I'm and climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa. From this van­ talking about an experience, a personal experience, for tage point, he dropped two objects simultaneously and those who are desiring to live right here and now. It rep­ to the amazement of all observers, the two unequal ob­ resents a willful act which links you with the power of jects fell side by side and struck the ground at the same God, the power of the cosmos; hence here is the cosmic time. There were skeptics in the crowd, and they said, approach to life. If you perform this simple experiment, "I don't believe it. Try it again, Galileo." Again it was you may expect results; solid results like a peace that no demonstrated that two objects of differing mass fell side man can explain nor can he give, a freedom to be your­ by side. Now perhaps a few of the skeptics were con­ self in a way you've never experienced before, a love that vinced, but perhaps some thought that the whole matter transcends any level of loving you have experienced be­ was a trick and they went away disbelieving. But then cause the love of God (agape) lives out through you and the news of Galileo's experiment spread and many said, affects every aspect of your life, a life which is meaningful "I won't believe it is true until I see the experiment per­ to you. Impossible? Sure it is, in your own ability. That's formed or perform it myself." exactly why you have to let go and let Christ empower Not all of us would require such personal observa­ your life. tion of physical phenomena, but everyone of us must of If I were to describe the way I feel about my life necessity require personal observation of non-physical right now, I'd call it a blast, a blast without drugs, a blast phenomena. Much of what I presented to you concern­ which leaves me fuller rather than emptier. In fact, life ing life in the universe was based on the observations of is so exciting I can hardly wait to see what Christ has for professional astronomers and we are willing to buy these me next or how He plans to use me in relation to other observations and their interpretations to a degree because people. they are purely physical in nature. We do not have the Many friends have influenced my life, but only One possibility of personal verification anyway. gave me life, and whatever is good or true or productive But I would urge you not to treat the non-physical about my life is a direct result of God being invited to aspects of life in the same manner. I would urge you not live through me. If you really want to experience life, in the fullest meaning of the word, then go to the source of to accept the statements I have made regarding God or life. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your Zif e, His Son on basis of my experience. Because of the private but that plan will never be implemented until you make nature of non-physical experiences, one man's experience the first move. can never suffice for another person. It is the denial of I wish each one of you success in your search for life. -18- - 19- ROBERT T. DIXON

Author of a new junior college text, Dynamic As­ tronomy, Prof. Dixon has been director of the Riverside City College Planetarium since its opening in 1968. He first came to the college in 1964 as a mathematics and astronomy teacher. Since then he has taught mathematics, physics, data processing, and astronomy. Currently, he is chairman of the faculty curriculum committee, and presi­ dent-elect of the Faculty Association. Born and raised in Ontario, Dixon attended Chaffey High School and after wartime service as a Navy photog­ rapher (Hawaii, Philippines, Saipan, Guam), he took a baccalaureate degree ( cum laude) from Seattle Pacific Col­ lege ( where he was elected to Who's \Vho in American Colleges and Universities), and a master of science at the University of Wisconsin. Since then he has studied at USC and UCLA on National Science Foundation grants. Prof. Dixon came to Riverside in 1950, teaching math, photography and astronomy at Poly and Ramona High Schools and serving as math coordinator for the City Schools. Active in community affairs, Dixon has served on the Board of Directors for Watkins House and as chairman of the Board of Christian Education for First Baptist Church of Riverside. In 1964 and again in 1966 Dixon and his wife led tours of high school students to Europe, and in 1967 he conducted a similar tour of Mexico for adults. Professor Dixon and his wife Marian have four children: Eleanor, Cynthia, Brian and Kristen. ROBERT T. DIXON

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