PHI BETA KAPPA
THETHE KEYKEY REPORTER FALL 20092009
42ND COUNCIL IN AUSTIN, TEXAS October 1-4 THE KEY REPORTER FROM THE SECRETARY Liberal Arts for Leadership
nder the auspices of the American Academic Leadership Institute, the Volume 74, Number 3 American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Fall 2009 UCouncil of Independent Colleges, I had the privilege recently of mod- erating a week-long series of discussions in which college and university pres- Editor & Designer: Kelly Gerald idents grappled with some classic texts in the humanities and social sciences. Consulting Editor: John Churchill The premise of this exercise was the idea that these readings would offer a field The Key Reporter (ISSN: 0023- of reflection for the examination of the nature of leadership. One morning we 0804) is published quarterly by the discussed Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, selections from Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1606 New Prince, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington, Another morning it was Sophocles’ Antigone and Martha Nussbaum’s chapter D.C. 20009. Periodicals postage is on “Narrative Imagination” from her book, Cultivating Humanity. There was a paid at Washington, D.C., and at day on truth-telling and lying, and a day on friendship. We discussed additional addresses. IPM #1213423 Agamemnon and U.S. Grant. We examined the friendship of David and Opinions expressed in this Jonathan in I Samuel. publication are not necessarily those For me, it was a return to the joys of a first-year humanities class, except of the editors or the officers of the that the discussants, instead of being college freshmen, were professional peo- Society. Circulation for this issue: ple with heavy, real-world responsibilities, who would be returning from this 540,222. week of intellectual recreation to decisions that would affect the futures of For nonmembers, single copies their colleges and universities and the lives of faculty, students, and staff. In are available for $2; one year’s such a setting, not much stays very abstract for very long. subscription is $5. Printed by Brown Appropriately, the presidents wanted some “take-away,” and they didn’t Printing Company, East Greenville, mean such lessons as: Don’t bring home a cursed prophetess from Troy and Pa. expect things to go well, or you can take Vicksburg if you know just when to Copyright © 2009 by the Phi Beta abandon your supply base. Learning from literature, history and philosophy is Kappa Society. All rights are reserved. broader than that. The Phi Beta Kappa name, key and It was amazing to me how quickly the commonalities of responsibility The Key Reporter name are among this group — each one perceiving the kinship of the others in under- registered trademarks of the Phi Beta standing their jobs and their trials — created a rapport that might have taken Kappa Society. weeks among undergraduates working on the same material. And it was heart- The Society’s privacy policy ening to me to see how readily they bought into the premise about rich texts, prohibits the distribution of member good discussion, and heightened personal and professional abilities. information. While our syllabus was by no means just a parade of traditional authors, Postmaster: Send change-of- there was a good discussion of how additional dimensions of diversity could address notices to: The Key Reporter, be beneficial. That ended in one of the presidents reading aloud some love The Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1606 poems of Pablo Neruda, who had been for me just a name and a reputation. New Hampshire Ave. NW, Oh, wow. That was my “take-away.” As soon as I got home, I bought the big, Washington, D.C. 20009. thick volume called The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, in English, with many poems Web site: www.pbk.org also in their original Spanish. If we do this again, I am looking forward to con- vincing some college and university presidents that discussing love poems can Circulation Policy improve their effectiveness as leaders. All four quarterly issues of The My other “take-away” was a renewed liveliness in the conviction that ani- Key Reporter are sent to members mates our Society, that love of learning really is, or will be if we let it be, the who support the Society by donating guide of life. And not just the guide of a life of quiet reflection only, but of a to FBK’s annual giving program. life spent in the buzz and tumble of action. Checks made out to the Phi Beta Kappa Society may be sent to the attention of Annual Gifts, 1606 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20009. Contributions are fully tax-deductible. Newly initiated members receive John Churchill all four issues for one year. Secretary The spring and fall issues are mailed to every FBK member living in the U.S. for whom the membership records office has an address. SPOTLIGHT CONTENTS FROM THE SECRETARY Liberal Arts for Leadership 2 FBK NEWS 42nd Council in Austin, Texas, Oct. 1-4 4 John Kennedy Toole Featured in FBK Exhibit at Tulane University 4 FBK Member Sonia Sotomayor Joins U.S. Supreme Court 5 The 2009 Sibley Fellowship in Greek Studies 5 The Importance of Practical Wisdom: Service-Learning and Liberal Arts Education 6 by Eric Greitens Stanley Kubrick and Cold Tom Jones (FBK, University of Arizona, 1988) at the Modernism: James Naremore National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. Gives the Louis K. Greiff Lecture at Alfred University 7 Since Apollo 11 first touched down on the Moon 40 years ago, by Melissa Ryan America has led the way in space exploration, a recognition that our The Voyage of a Darwin Scholar: nation cannot thrive without competing on the frontiers of science A FBK Visiting Scholar Sings and technology. Maintaining that leadership is a fundamental and Darwin’s Praises 8 necessary investment in our future, rewarding us with new scientific by Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis discoveries, sources of energy and raw materials, and a competitive Making the Liberal Arts Degree economic edge. Phi Beta Kappa recognizes the value of motivating Pay Off: A Headhunter Explains our next generation of explorers, a skilled “corps of discovery” How to Market your Skills in the trained to tackle our toughest 21st-century challenges. Business World 10 by Nick Corcodilos — Tom Jones FROM OUR BOOK CRITICS Reviews 12 homas D. Jones is a veteran NASA astronaut, scientist, speaker, Tauthor and consultant. He holds a doctorate in planetary sciences, and Ancient Historians and in more than 11 years with NASA, flew on four space shuttle missions to Corporate Lawyers: More in Earth’s orbit. On his last flight, Jones led three spacewalks to help install Common than You Think 15 the centerpiece of the International Space Station, the American Destiny by Daniel Levin laboratory. He has spent 53 days working and living in space. Jones was a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy ON THE COVER before graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Arizona in Students near the St. Joan of Arc 1988. He piloted B-52D strategic bombers, studied asteroids for NASA, Chapel just off the Central Mall, engineered intelligence-gathering systems for the CIA and helped devel- Marquette University. Photo op advanced mission concepts to explore the solar system prior to join- courtesy of Marquette University. ing NASA’s astronaut corps. Continued on page 11 www.pbk.org Fall 2009 3 42nd Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Austin, Texas, Oct. 1-4 he 42nd Council of the Phi Beta Kappa TSociety will be held in Austin, Texas, Oct. 1-4. The primary business of the Council is to vote on the creation of new chapters and pro- posed constitutional changes, and also to elect FBK Senators, a new FBK President and Vice President. During the Council weekend, delegates are invited to visit the Harry Ransom Humanities Center and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Thomas Bender, FBK Visiting Scholar and professor of humanities and histo- ry at New York University, will speak to dele- gates on “American History in a Global Perspective.” And during the Council’s con- cluding banquet, John E. Seery, professor of politics at Pomona College, will receive FBK’s Sydney Hook Memorial Award; Douglas Greenberg, executive dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers President Lyndon Johnson (right) meets with Walter Cronkite at the White House, January University, will receive the FBK Award for 9, 1969. On February 27, 1968, after reporting on the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Cronkite made history at the end of his “CBS Evening News” broadcast by questioning the war: Distinguished Service to the Humanities. “For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end Election results and new chapters will be in a stalemate.” Shortly afterwards, Johnson told his press secretary, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, announced on the FBK Web site after Oct. 4 I’ve lost the country.” Johnson’s words are included in the permanent exhibit at the and in the winter issue of The Key Reporter. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Cronkite (FBK, University of South For more on the 42nd Council, call (202) 745- Carolina, 1980) died July 17. Robert McNamara (FBK, University of California, Berkeley, 3235 or write to [email protected]. 1935), former U.S. Secretary of State and the architect of the Vietnam War, died July 6.
John Kennedy Toole Featured in FBK Exhibit at Tulane University n April, Tulane University’s Alpha of [ L o u i s i a n a ILouisiana Chapter celebrated its R e s e a r c h 100th anniversary by hosting the FBK Collection, traveling exhibit. The chapter’s execu- T u l a n e tive committee supplemented the show U n i v e r s i t y with items from Tulane’s own FBK Libraries], archives. Chapter Treasurer Celeste given by his Uzee and Secretary Laura Richens, m o t h e r , along with University Archivist Ann E. T h e l m a Case, carefully selected objects from D u c o i n g Tulane’s Special Collections dating Toole, to from 1909 through the 1960s. Tulane in The three cases in the Special 1980 and later. Collections Gallery were arranged The Pulitzer chronologically, with the first case fea- Prize winning turing the invitation and program from author and John Kennedy Toole’s FBK invitation letter, FBK certificate and a copy of his the 1909 FBK initiation ceremony. Tulane alum- Pulitzer Prize winning book A Confederacy of Dunces, among other items, The second case included a hand-writ- nus died in were part of the FBK exhibit at Tulane University this spring. ten list of Tulane’s FBK members who 1969 in were enlisted in World War I, along Biloxi, Miss. Toole was inducted into 1958 inductees, rounded out the cente- with articles from the daily paper doc- Tulane’s FBK chapter in 1958; the dis- nary exhibition. umenting the sesquicentennial celebra- play of his Phi Beta Kappa certificate, For information about the FBK tion of the national FBK organization along with his letter of invitation to traveling exhibit, call (202) 745-3239 in 1926. The third case featured items join, and a copy of a newspaper article or write to [email protected]. from the John Kennedy Toole papers and photograph honoring all of the
4 The Key Reporter FBK Member Sonia Sotomayor Joins U.S. Supreme Court hen Sonia Sotomayor (FBK, as a trial judge. WPrinceton University, 1976) was Sotomayor served 11 years on the sworn in on August 8, she became the Court of Appeals for the Second first Hispanic Justice of the U.S. Circuit, one of the most demanding cir- Supreme Court. cuits in the country, and has handed Sotomayor has served as a judge down decisions on a range of complex on the United States Court of Appeals legal and constitutional issues. for the Second Circuit since October According to a statement released by 1998 and is hailed as a role model for the White House, Sotomayor brings her ascent to the federal bench from an more federal judicial experience to the upbringing in a south Bronx housing Supreme Court than any justice in 100 project. years, and more overall judicial experi- Her American story and three ence than anyone confirmed for the Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. decade career in nearly every aspect of Court in the past 70 years. Judge Supreme Court was confirmed August 6 on a the law provide her with unique quali- Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush 68-31 vote. fications to serve as a Supreme Court appointee to the Second Circuit, said Justice. She is a distinguished graduate “Sonia is an outstanding colleague 1941), Anthony M. Kennedy (FBK, of two of America’s leading universi- with a keen legal mind. She brings a Stanford University, 1958), Ruth Bader ties. She has been a big-city prosecutor wealth of knowledge and hard work to Ginsburg (FBK, Cornell University, and a corporate litigator. Before she all her endeavors on our court. It is 1953), Stephen G. Breyer (FBK, was promoted to the Second Circuit by both a pleasure and an honor to serve Stanford University, 1959), Samuel A. President Bill Clinton, she was with her.” Alito (FBK, Princeton University, appointed to the District Court for the Seven of the nine current U.S. 1972), and Sonia Sotomayor. Southern District of New York by Supreme Court Justices are FBK Sotomayor replaces Souter (FBK, President George H.W. Bush. She members: John G. Roberts, Jr. (FBK Harvard University, 1960), whose replaces David Souter as the only Harvard University, 1976), John Paul retirement from the Supreme Court Supreme Court Justice with experience Stevens (FBK, University of Chicago, was announced in April.
The 2009 Sibley Fellowship in Greek Studies Join the he winner of the 2009 Mary Isabel TSibley Fellowship in Greek Studies Secretary’s Circle is Michelle Jenkins of the University of Arizona. Jenkins, who grew up in North [email protected] Pole, Alaska, received her B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., majoring in philosophy = with a minor in classical Greek. She is currently a sixth-year graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at the Laureate University of Arizona where she is $1,500 - $2,499 working on her dissertation, “Seekers of Wisdom, Lovers of Truth: A Study of Plato’s Philosopher,” under the guid- Bronze Laureate ance of Julia Annas and Rachana $2,500 - $4,999 Kamtekar. The annual Sibley Fellowship is Michelle Jenkins, the 2009 Sibley Fellow Silver Laureate awarded alternately in the fields of Greek and French. The award may be ed to members of Phi Beta Kappa or to $5,000 - $9,999 used for the study of Greek language, U.S. citizens. literature, history, or archaeology, or For more about the Sibley Gold Laureate the study of French language or litera- Fellowship and FBK’s other awards, ture. The fellowship has a stipend of call (202) 745-3235 or write to $10,000 and above $20,000. The fellowship is not restrict- [email protected].
www.pbk.org Fall 2009 5 The Importance of Practical Wisdom Service-Learning and Liberal Arts Education
By Eric Greitens would endanger their own families. In I also saw incredible acts of com- the worst cases, there were neighbors passion in the refugee camps. I remem- t is through service to others that we who became murderers themselves, ber a Rwandan man, a refugee who Ioften learn how ideas can shape the torturing and killing people with whom was living in Goma, Zaire. I can’t world, yet we hardly think about serv- they’d lived — side-by-side — for remember if I ever knew his name, nor ice or service-learning as a formal part years. And then there were neighbors can I remember if I ever knew his story. of the liberal arts education. A good who risked their lives and the lives of He came every day to the center for liberal arts education helps us to under- their families for months on end to hide unaccompanied children, and he stand how the best thinkers have come other neighbors behind false walls, all served as a kind of “games leader.” to see the world. We learn facts and the time praying that not a single sound When he walked into the aid tent, theories that help us think deeply dozens of children would stand about what Aristotle called and run towards him. They played phronesis, the “practical wisdom” games — running, tagging, jump- of living virtuously and promot- ing, singing. He had no toys, no ing human flourishing. But just as supplies. He simply brought him- a leader cannot learn to inspire self and happiness. and a nurse cannot learn to com- One of the most compelling fort by reading a book, the wis- facts about the refugee camps was dom of living well can’t be that a tremendous number of peo- grasped solely by classroom ple were actively involved in help- learning. By pairing service with ing others. By caring for others, the lessons of the classroom, people develop their own however, we can create phronesis. strength. This pattern of recogniz- In April of 1994, I turned on ing strength and serving others the evening news and saw corpses was repeated everywhere I trav- floating in rivers, and churches elled. full of human bodies. It was the These simple actions alone are beginning of the Rwandan geno- not enough to fight an army, to cide. By the end of those 100 protect a home, to prevent a days, 800,000 men, women and crime, to heal a wound. But they children would be dead. I was a are enough to rekindle the embers sophomore at Duke University at of hope. And in serving others, we the time. I was just beginning my find that we have a power to cre- studies in ethics, public policy ate hope and shape the lives of and philosophy. Professor Neil those served. Boothby invited me to fly with The “games leader” visiting the center for unaccompanied Many centuries ago, Pericles him to the refugee camps in children, Rwandan refugee camp. Photo by Eric Greitens. declared in his funeral oration to Rwanda. He was heading up a the citizens of Athens: “What you UN project to study unaccompa- leave behind is not what is nied children — children who had lost escaped at the wrong moment. engraved in stone monuments, but parents during the genocide. In the refugee camps, I met a 16- what is woven into the lives of others.” In my studies, I read how the year-old who was the leader of a group It has been almost 15 years since I left Belgian colonial authority had instilled of boys. I asked him to tell me about Duke, but much of what I learned there twisted notions of racial purity. I the other boys in his group. He pointed, endures. I am grateful for the knowl- learned how the UN could not marshal and an aid worker translated. “This edge my professors have passed on to the power to act. I learned how the US one,” he said, “is very powerful with me through my liberal arts education. I refused to offer military or financial making fire and cooking. This one is am also grateful for the opportunities resources to stop the genocide. But very powerful with the soldiers from to use that knowledge to serve and when I arrived in Rwanda and spoke to Zaire; they like him. This one is very watch other people serve. With the the survivors of the genocide, no one powerful with singing.” And as he went practical wisdom that comes through spoke to me about the UN, or the US, around the group, he described each serving, we learn that we all have the or the history of colonization. Instead, boy as powerful in some way. They had power to create hope. they told me stories about their neigh- survived, perhaps, because their leader bors. There were neighbors who said had the humility to see the strength in Eric Greitens (FBK, Duke University, they couldn’t help for fear that they everyone. 1995) is a Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Navy Continued on page 11
6 The Key Reporter Stanley Kubrick and Cold Modernism James Naremore Gives the Louis K. Greiff Lecture at Alfred University
By Melissa Ryan the grotesque, the uncanny, and the ing to Naremore, perfectly illustrates fantastic. Each of these modes works Kubrick’s aesthetic. As the combatants don’t think that writers or painters by the yoking of opposites, resulting in hurl body parts at one another, “Ior filmmakers function because a betwixt and between quality that he Kubrick’s editing deliberately makes it they have something they particularly said “causes complicated emotional difficult to distinguish the organic from want to say,” filmmaker Stanley responses.” The visual and narrative the plastic, and the uneasy laughter Kubrick told the London Observer in maneuvers associated with these gen- generated by this scene registers its 1960. “They have something that they res create uncertainty, such that audi- conflicting effects. feel.” With this — an unlikely remark ences “don’t know where to settle.” Naremore claimed that Kubrick from the man often seen as “an intel- This purposeful unease is not merely a uses the grotesque to “unsettle social lectual Mr. Cool, a tough norms,” creating “a sort of guy with a scholarly moral and emotional dise- beard,” as James quilibrium.” This has both Naremore writes — psychic and social implica- Naremore, Emeritus tions. Black humor, a Chancellors’ Professor of grotesque melding of Communication and humor and horror, is a way Culture and English at of confronting, rather than Indiana University and repressing, disturbing author of On Kubrick emotional content, both (Palgrave Macmillan, within the individual and, 2007), began “Stanley as Kubrick’s “black humor Kubrick and Cold masterpiece” Dr. Modernism,” this year’s Strangelove (1964) sug- Greiff Lecture at Alfred gests, within a society. University in Alfred, N.Y., Other variations on held March 26. Kubrick’s “aesthetics of Named for Alfred the grotesque” that University Professor of Naremore discussed English Emeritus Louis K. include the Freudian Greiff, who was instru- uncanny, an “unhomelike” mental in getting the uni- Fight scene between Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith) and Vincent Rapallo (Frank alienation within the famil- versity’s FBK chapter Silvera) in Stanley Kubrick’s second feature, Killer’s Kiss (1955). iar that makes the ordinary established in 2004, the seem frighteningly unfa- lecture series has featured miliar, and the fantastic — noted film scholars in recognition of philosophical phenomenon; it is a felt as theorized by Tzvetan Todorov, an Greiff’s work on filming D. H. quality, an emotional rather than pure- ambiguous territory between the real Lawrence’s fiction and, this year in ly cerebral experience. and the supernatural. For Naremore, particular, on his long-standing Body parts, bathrooms, and masks The Shining (1980) is most interesting Kubrick honors seminar. are central to Kubrick’s imagery, signi- when it inhabits this realm of unde- Naremore called Kubrick one of fying what Naremore called his “anx- cideability, when viewers are com- the last modernist directors but sought ious preoccupation with the human pelled to ask, “Is this real or is he to challenge, or at least complicate, the body” and his tendency to express that crazy?” A similarly unanswerable prevailing view of Kubrick as a man of fascination by way of jarring juxtaposi- question — “Is he awake or is he ideas sharing the emotional detach- tion. Kubrick’s grotesque derives its dreaming?” — energizes Kubrick’s last ment, or even skepticism, of a high energy from an “unresolved tension” film, the underappreciated Eyes Wide modernist like T.S. Eliot or James between conflicting impulses — Shut (1999), whose protagonist is Joyce. Though Kubrick also resisted toward laughter, toward fear or disgust “confounded by the interpenetration of melodrama or mere sentiment, the — that results from a promiscuous dreams and everyday life,” uncannily emotional complexity of his films mixing of the human and the inani- repeating himself, returning uncontrol- belies the so-called “arctic spirit” some mate. Kubrick’s early low-budget lably to the same places. critics have seen in his work. thriller Killer’s Kiss (1955), for exam- The dreamscape juxtapositions of Naremore explored the affective ple, features a fight scene in a roomful these films — and other manifestations aspects of Kubrick’s films through four of naked female mannequins whose of the grotesque found in Kubrick clas- central lenses: the blackly humorous, destabilization of boundaries, accord- sics like 2001 (1968), Full Metal Continued on page 11 www.pbk.org Fall 2009 7 The Voyage of a Darwin Scholar A FBK Visiting Scholar Sings Darwin’s Praises
By Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis of the creative ways that diverse com- scratchy gramophone records, vinyl munities have engaged Darwin and albums and CD’s and to video produc- etween 1831-1836, Charles confronted some of the more unsettling tions available on You Tube. BDarwin circumnavigated the globe implications of his important theory. Darwin and his theory could be aboard the H. M. S. Beagle, exploring A project I had been contemplat- found in nearly all musical genres the flora, fauna, the geology and the ing for a long time seemed ideal: a beginning from the 1860s until the people at places he visited. It was a study of Darwin and his theory in song present. Some of the songs were cele- life-altering experience. Gaining so and musical production since it first bratory in nature, honoring Darwin and much insight into the diversity of the entered the public sphere. Beginning his theory for elite audiences, while natural world, others were D a r w i n populist songs returned to of protest like England seek- those written ing a theory to around the explain what time of Scopes he termed the “monkey” trial “mystery of of 1925 with mysteries,” the titles like “You origin of Can’t Make a species. That Monkey Out theory, known of Me.” Some as descent with l i n k e d modification D a r w i n i a n by the primary themes to fem- means of natu- inist themes ral selection, like the song later called “A Lady of “evolution,” Fair Lineage made its public High” from appearance in the Gilbert and 1859, with the S u l l i v a n ’ s publication of Popular sheet music from the turn of the century inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution, part of light opera his On the Smocovitis’ multi-media presentation for the FBK Visiting Scholar Program. Reproduced with permission Princess Ida; Origin of from the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library at Duke University. some to the Species. The “tribalism” of rest is history. groups like the In 2008-2009, nearly 150 years with a provocative piece of American Masonic Knights of the Eastern Star, as after the publication of his famous sheet music dated to 1874 that I had in the song spoofing them called book, and the 200th anniversary of his found while still a graduate student in “Knights of the Mystic Star” from the birth, Charles Darwin took to the road my advisor’s library at Cornell in the 1891 musical The Last of the Hogans; again as part of the FBK Visiting mid-1980s, I had been collecting mate- while still others reflected racist and Scholar Program. This time, he trav- rials on Darwin, evolution and anti-immigration attitudes prevalent in eled as the subject of a one-hour multi- American popular culture for more post-Civil War America, as in the 1874 media presentation that explored the than 20 years. I had already finished song that first piqued my interest titled reception of his theory in music, song one project that explored the way peo- “Too Thin; or, Darwin’s Little Joke.” and staged musical production for ple celebrated Darwin in 1959. It Still others were didactic in nature, tar- about the last 150 years. It’s an uncon- included a historical examination of a geting children and younger people, ventional way to explore the impact of musical production of Darwin’s life while others were meant to be silly Darwin’s work, but as a FBK Visiting that emulated big-hit musical produc- songs offering entertainment for Scholar for the “Year of Darwin,” I tions like Oklahoma!, so why not dig revues, vaudeville, burlesque and wanted to do something special for the into the subject a bit deeper? Research Broadway audiences with images and public lecture. It had to be something took me not only to illustrated sheet parodies of frolicking anthropomor- festive, lighthearted with broad enough music deposited in traditional archives, phic monkeys inhabiting a place called appeal, yet with enough historical sub- but also “tin-foil” or wax cylinder “monkeyland.” More recent genres stance to leave audiences appreciative recordings in digital archives, to growing out of countercultural move-
8 The Key Reporter ments like rock and roll, punk, grunge known to be weighty, disturbing and all Delta of Minnesota, St. Olaf College or new wave link acceptance of evolu- too frequently contentious, the “musi- Theta of Virginia, Sweet Briar tion with anti-humanist and anti-reli- cal” Darwin seemed not only to disarm College gious sentiment, sometimes mingling its many opponents but actually Delta of Missouri, Truman State this with startling political satire. In brought people together in a large University short, Darwin and his theory could be “sing-a-long.” As if that weren’t good Beta of Colorado, Colorado College found in a multitude of historical enough, at a number of places the pub- Alpha of Wyoming, University of songs, musical settings, and varying lic lecture was followed by receptions Wyoming genres, as we would expect of a power- that included birthday cakes and ani- Chi of California, University of the ful explanatory theory whose implica- mated discussions between students, Pacific tions were entertained, both literally faculty and guests from both the sci- Omicron of California, San Francisco and figuratively, by popular audiences. ences and the humanities that contin- State University Putting selections of some of these ued throughout the duration of my on- Epsilon of Pennsylvania, pieces together, with the latest software campus visits. My overall impression Swarthmore College available, I was able to take Darwin is that people were left with a very dif- and his theory, in musical form, on my ferent view of Darwin and the implica- For more about the FBK Visiting own exciting voyage to some nine tions of his theory, along with gaining Scholar Program, call (202) 745-3231 FBK chapters as the public lecture an enhanced appreciation of how great- or write to [email protected]. titled “Singing His Praises: Darwin and ly they have stirred the human imagi- His Theory in Song and Musical nation. In my own mind, the experi- Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis was a FBK Production.” If audience behavior was ence confirmed the view that by foster- Visiting Scholar for 2008-2009. She is an indicator, it seemed to work: it isn’t ing breadth of academic interests, professor of the history of science in often that historians of science deliver organizations like Phi Beta Kappa can the departments of biology and history lectures to toe-tapping, head-bobbing help us deal creatively with some at the University of Florida. In recog- people who included seniors, children, important but contentious subjects. nition of her teaching and scholarship, garden variety academics from both . she has been named University of the sciences and the humanities and FBK Chapters Visited by Smocovitis Florida’s Distinguished Alumni more than a few undergraduates Professor for 2009-2011. singing along to music. For a subject Phi of New York, Skidmore College
www.pbk.org Fall 2009 9 Making the Liberal Arts Degree Pay Off A Headhunter Explains How to Market Your Skills in the Business World
By Nick Corcodilos to shake the attitude that your educa- lenges the business world faces. Upon tion limits your options, because your attaining that knowledge, any smart confess: I was a liberal arts major success in fact depends on shoe-horn- person with the skills listed above can Iand it has helped my career. ing, forcing, pounding and otherwise proceed to map her skills to the work I once worked for a CEO who mapping your skills to the jobs you and create a compelling presentation to couldn't write well, but he knew want. win a great job. enough to surround himself with peo- I started my college career as an In a nutshell, here’s what a liberal ple who could. His success rested to a English major. When I realized English arts major needs to do to prepare for a large extent on his team’s ability to majors were a dime a dozen, I switched business job. communicate his great ideas effective- to psychology. (Psych majors were ly. When I applied for this job, my lib- about a quarter a dozen — I wasn’t Select a business you want to work eral arts education gave me an edge thinking very “big” at the time.) How in. over other job candidates who couldn’t did I make it in headhunting? The abil- Study it in excruciating detail. write to save their lives. The simple ity to grasp a problem, research and (There is no way around this if you ability to communicate well can give develop alternative solutions, and make want to succeed.) you an edge, too. a clear, effective presentation won me Learn enough so you can begin map- my first job and has served me well for ping the aforementioned skills to the The door has opened. over 20 years. I didn’t need business business. As the world of online commerce experience to acquire these skills, but I expands and the scarcity of talented did need to learn how to apply them in Sound simplistic? It’s the same technical and business professionals business. approach you take to create a painting, becomes painfully evident, employers Your advantage is that with a liber- write a term paper or conduct an exper- are turning to a relatively untapped al arts degree, you possess many fun- iment. Follow these three steps (I did- pool of job candidates: liberal arts damental skills and attributes that your n’t say they were easy), and you will be majors. These are the people who competition may lack. on your way. Ignore these steps, and majored in subjects like English, art, you will be at the mercy of the “ran- history, psychology ... you know: the Skills: dom resume, random job” process that non-business disciplines. Defining problems and tasks. dominates most job searches. While employers are welcoming Mastery of information retrieval sys- them, liberal arts majors — whether tems (libraries, books, periodicals, Get started. they’re fresh out of school, or whether Internet, personal interviews). The purpose of this article isn’t to they have years of experience in non- Planning and executing research. walk you through the re-mapping you business jobs — too often stumble all Organizing ideas and solutions. must do. It’s to make you start thinking over themselves trying to figure out Writing and communicating. about the key challenge you face: to how to present their “qualifications” And perhaps most important, a well- take responsibility for figuring out how for jobs they might never have consid- honed ability to learn what you need to your abilities can be used to solve an ered before. in order to accomplish a task. employer’s problems. Don’t wait for an More than they realize, people employer to figure it out for you — he with liberal arts backgrounds have Attributes: won’t. readily identifiable skills that can be An open mind to new ideas and Few businesses are so complicated directly applied to solve business prob- approaches. that it is impossible to figure out where lems in Internet-related businesses Disciplined work habits. you would fit within them. But, few job including new media, e-commerce, A critical eye and ear. hunters are diligent enough to do the enterprise planning and software exercise and preparation that yield the development. But, here’s the chal- These fundamentals can be applied to job. lenge: few employers will help job business. In fact, they’re important hunters figure out how to transfer those advantages in the business world — Nick Corcodilos (FBK, Rutgers skills. however, they’re useless unless you University, 1977) is a syndicated know what to do with them. columnist and host of “Ask the Walk into a new mindset. Headhunter: The Insider’s Edge on If you have a liberal arts back- Job Search and Hiring” located at ground and have never applied it to Re-map yourself. www.asktheheadhunter.com. His icon- business, it’s up to you to figure it out What intimidates liberal arts oclastic techniques for job search, hir- for yourself. And that means getting majors is their lack of detailed knowl- ing and career development are used out of the academic mindset. You need edge about the problems and chal- by job hunters and employers alike.
10 The Key Reporter Tom Jones Eric Greitens Continued from 3 Continued from 6 Start a His latest book is Planetology: SEAL reservist and Chairman of The FBK Association Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar Mission Continues. Strength & in Your Area! System (written with Ellen Stofan, Compassion (Leading Authorities Ph.D.; National Geographic, 2008). Press, 2008) is his book of photo- FBK is looking for members His other 2008 book is Hell Hawks! graphs and essays from his time as a interested in starting new (with Robert F. Dorr; Zenith Press, humanitarian volunteer. For more, visit associations in unrepresented 2008), a true story of an aerial band of www.ericgreitens.com. parts of the country. brothers in WWII. The Wall Street Journal named his earlier book Sky You can find a full list of current Stanley Kubrick associations and links to their Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir Continued from 7 (Smithsonian-Collins, 2006) as one of Web sites by going to its “Five Best” books about space. Jacket (1987), A Clockwork Orange www.pbk.org and clicking on Jones writes frequently for the (1971) — are, as Greiff Lecture atten- “Association Directory” under Smithsonian’s Air & Space, Aerospace dees learned, Kubrick’s defining fea- the Alumni Associations tab. America, Popular Mechanics and ture as a filmmaker. As Naremore American Heritage magazines. writes in On Kubrick, “At his best, like Associations bring together His awards include the NASA many other practitioners of the FBK members for intellectual, Distinguished Service Medal, four grotesque, he aims to show a paradox- social and philanthropic activi- ties. NASA Space Flight Medals, NASA ical and potentially disturbing truth: at Exceptional Service Award, NASA the farthest reaches of our experience, We can put you in touch with Outstanding Leadership Medal and the extremes meet and transform them- other interested members in your Air Force Commendation Medal. selves. The coldest temperatures burn area, as well as provide Jones is a member of the NASA no less than fire. Especially where the information and experienced Advisory Council, serves on the board human body is concerned, there is contacts who can help you get of the Association of Space Explorers, always something potentially comic started. and regularly supplies on-air commen- about horror and horrible about come- tary for television spaceflight cover- dy.” Interested in starting a FBK age. He is currently active in the debate association? Call (202) 745- over our nation’s space exploration Melissa Ryan (FBK, Middlebury 3249 or write to policy. College, 1993) is an assistant professor associations@pbk. org. For more, visit www.Astronaut of English and president of the FBK TomJones.com chapter at Alfred University.
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www.pbk.org Fall 2009 11 From Our Book Critics
stories revolve around genetics and offered a new conception of the evolu- By G. Cornelissen-Guillaume evolution. Raphael Falk tells the story tion of life on Earth by his discovery of of Wilhelm Johannsen, who introduced progenotes (archae), in direct opposi- R e b e l s , the concept of the genotype distinct tion to the canonical eukaryote- Mavericks, and from the phenotype. Ute Deichmann prokaryote dichotomy. Heretics in tells how Oswald T. Avery, then retired, The lives of two other Nobel Prize Biology. Oren used his training in microbiology to winners are not directly relevant to Harman and show that the substance capable of genetics and evolution. Roger Sperry Michael R. bringing about a lasting transformation asked the difficult question whether Dietrich, edi- of pneumococcal types that apparently behavior is “hard-wired.” Peter tors. Yale consists of heritable changes in bacte- Mitchell demonstrated the critical U n i v e r s i t y ria is DNA, a nucleic acid and not a importance of a vectorial (directional) Press, 2009. 416 protein, the then-prevailing view. approach to the study of bioenergetics, pages. $40.00 Nathaniel Comfort relates how Barbara showing that energy from respiration McClintock discovered “jumping creates a pH gradient across the cell’s Based on the lives of 19 scientists genes” (transposons) in corn, for which membrane (to store energy), which who challenged the status quo, the edi- she was awarded the Nobel Prize. drives ATP synthesis. The stories of tors expose some of the driving forces Daniel J. Kevles writes about Howard Daniel S. Simberloff and Thelma behind scientific change, an unusual Temin, who was awarded the Nobel Rowell illustrate the importance of but enlightening approach to the histo- Prize for showing that RNA can syn- rigor in terms of sampling, experimen- ry of science. The emphasis is placed thesize DNA and for identifying the tal design and statistical analysis, lead- in each chapter, devoted to each of the enzyme responsible for it (reverse tran- ing to advances in ecology as an exper- 19 scientists, on how the prevailing scriptase), the result of his work on imental science and in the study of pri- ideas of the time were put into question interactions of viruses and cells related mate behavior, respectively. and a different hypothesis proposed, to the genesis of cancer. The editors deserve credit for often by crossing disciplinary barriers. Advances related to evolution including some seemingly unsuccess- The representative, but by no means include the stories of Alfred Russel ful case studies. Vero Copner Wynne- comprehensive, sample was selected Wallace, who inferred that natural Edwards tackled the theory of group on the basis of two basic requirements, selection is the driving force of evolu- selection. Leon Croizat challenged the namely having participated in impor- tion; Hans Driesch, who advocated notion that geographic barriers and tant episodes of dissent from major experimentalism to study processes of biota do not co-evolve. Richard areas of biology in the 20th century embryonic development for their own Goldschmidt rejected the concept of and presenting a broad and varied sake and as an adjunct to evolutionary the particulate gene and posited that exposition of the different roles and theory; C.D. Darlington, who showed gene expression can be understood in effects of “rebelliousness and icono- that crossing over is a necessary pre- terms of timing, as there are critical clasm” in science. Each case study pre- condition for pairing, segregation and spans during development. sented by a different author is comple- reduction, and therefore ultimately for The introduction of time as an mented by notes and references leading sexual reproduction and evolution; essential fourth dimension in biology to further reading. Motoo Kimura, who found that the remains to be fully realized and Whereas referring to scientists as bulk of evolutionary changes are selec- embraced as the indispensable control, rebels, mavericks or heretics is certain tively neutral; William D. Hamilton, a challenge for the 21st century. to catch readers’ attention and pique who focused on the evolution of altru- The book offers much more than a their curiosity, many may object to this ism and showed that favoring sexual series of biographies. It shows how choice of words. Innovation and break- over asexual reproduction is needed to male and female scientists of different through may be more appropriate escape parasites; and Stephen Jay ages, educational and employment his- denominations. After all, isn’t the sci- Gould, who, based on his study of fos- tories and personal wealth deal in dif- entist’s mandate to stand in front of the sil records, introduced the concept of ferent ways with the vicissitudes of facts without any preconceived ideas? punctuated equilibria as an alternative challenging scientific orthodoxy. It Perhaps the main lesson from the lives to phyletic gradualism and argued that also illustrates the role intuition and of these 19 outstanding individuals is certain evolutionary features are “span- also pure chance (or malchance) can the merit of a transdisciplinary drels” or accidental by-products of play, as does the shield offered to indi- approach, the value of examining an some other combination of adapta- viduals working in major laboratories important problem of the day from a tions. Particularly fascinating are the or reputable institutions. An introduc- different angle by bringing the tech- stories of Raymond Arthur Dart’s dis- tion by the editors draws connections niques and know-how of a different covery of the Taung skull as the “miss- among the 19 scientists and underlies field into the investigation. ing link” between human and non- the “rebel” or “iconoclast” aspect of With only a few exceptions, most human animals, and Carl Woese, who each, emphasizing the value of dissent
12 The Key Reporter in scientific progress. An epilogue by as an international art form, with influ- four, on Gothic cathedrals; chapter R.C. Lewontin reminds us of the limits ences zigzagging across continents and five, on medieval innovations in the the social structure of science put on languages. If style is not confined to manufacture of textiles, iron, and gun- innovation and creativity. This sober- language, then style can survive trans- powder. By chapter six, Friedel has ing view is unfortunately probably lation, even linguistically “bad” trans- reached the early 14th century, where truer today than a century ago. lation, and techniques can travel from he surveys developments in glassmak- language to language, across national ing, shipbuilding and clockmaking. Germaine Cornelissen-Guillaume is a boundaries. “Everything [stylistic] is Particularly notable for creating a cul- professor of integrative biology and portable,” Thirlwell notes. So Franz ture of improvement was the appear- physiology and co-director of the Kafka writing in German could adopt ance of spectacles, “the first invention Halberg Chronobiology Center at the and extend a technique that he finds in that was clearly perceived and appreci- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Gustave Flaubert, and Leo Tolstoy ated as a novel contribution to the qual- writing in Russian and Saul Bellow ity of individual life.” By Rick Eden writing in English could borrow from Chapter seven focuses on the Stendhal writing in French. development of the printing press; Thirlwell turns frequently to importantly for the culture of improve- The Delighted Vladimir Nabokov — like himself a ment, printing enabled the rise of a States: A Book of novelist, translator and theorist — for published technical literature with N o v e l s , both insights and examples. Nabokov sophisticated graphics, including Romances, & was a master stylist who wrote in three “exploded views, cutaways, careful their Unknown languages (Russian, English, French) attention to scale and other elements of Translators, and translated his own work as well as technical drawing that we now take for Containing Ten that of others; moreover, his views on granted.” By “capturing” innovations Languages, Set translation changed over the course of for others to use, technical literature, on Four his career. Bound together with The along with technical schools and tech- Continents, & Delighted States are two versions of nical associations, enabled the Accompanied by Nabokov’s short memoir of a gov- improvement of improvement itself, Maps, Portraits, Squiggles, erness, an original in French and accelerating the rate of technological Illustrations, & a Variety of Helpful Thirlwell’s English translation. change. Indexes. Adam Thirlwell. Farrar, Later chapters are darker and more Straus, and Giroux, 2008. 507 pages. A Culture of complex: for example, chapter 19, cen- $30.00 Improvement: tered on the development of ironclad Technology and warships, carries the sardonic title Many have written on the history the Western “The Improvement of Violence.” The of the novel, but Adam Thirlwell may M i l l e n i u m . moral limits of improvement were be the first to make the subject truly Robert Friedel. revealed in the 20th century by the fun. Building on a conceit of the Czech MIT Press, 2007. atomic bomb and the Holocaust, cul- novelist Bohumil Hrabal, Thirlwell 567 pages. minating examples of applying techno- defines literary history as “a café $42.95 logical and organizational innovations where everyone’s playing ping-pong.” to enable the efficient murder of per- This “zany” image, more likely to This wonderfully accessible and sons on an industrial scale. By the end appear in a Marx Brothers movie than entertaining volume chronicles one of the millennium, technological in a 500 page tome, epitomizes thousand years of technological devel- advances had become widely under- Thirlwell’s style and vision. opments in the West. More specifically, stood as sources of problems as well as Style as vision is in fact the theme Robert Friedel traces the development improvements. and thesis of The Delighted States. of a “culture of improvement”: “the The book takes the form of 16 playful ascendancy of values and beliefs that Five Chapters and digressive essays loosely connect- ‘things could be done better,’ ” an atti- on Rhetoric: ed by their common concern with tude that is pervasive today. C h a r a c t e r , defining style in the novel and develop- Each of the 26 chapters carries the Action, Things, ing a corresponding theory of transla- story forward in time through a case Nothing, and tion. Thirlwell argues that style in the study of a particular technological Art. Michael S. novel must refer to more than the prose advance or set of advances. Friedel’s K o c h i n . style: “A style is a quality of vision; it pace is brisk and his examples are Pennsylvania is not limited by language.” wide-ranging. For example, chapter State University This expansive, extra-linguistic two centers on the role of the horse in Press, 2009. 184 definition of style increases the possi- medieval improvements in farming, pages. $65.00 bilities for translation and helps to travel, and warfare; chapter three explain how the novel came to develop focuses on the waterwheel; chapter These five chapters comprise a
www.pbk.org Fall 2009 13 thoughtful and fresh reconsideration of partisan research institution headquar- main mirror 10 meters across. They several fundamental problems in rheto- tered in Santa Monica, Calif. describe the Giant Magellan Telescope, ric, drawing on both classical and mod- now under development, with the ern sources and using examples both By Jay Pasachoff equivalent of a 25-meter-diameter mir- from political and scientific discourse. ror. They further discuss mountain To place Michael S. Kochin’s sites, and astronomers using distant tel- inquiries, picture an equilateral triangle Galileo’s New escopes or the Hubble Space Telescope labeled “audience,” “purpose” and Universe: The over the Web from their offices. And “speaker/writer” at the three points and Revolution in they talk about the current surveys of “topic” at the centroid. He begins by Our Under- the whole sky and how data mining is noting a problem inherent in the posi- standing of the changing the way astronomy is done. tion of audience vis-a-vis purpose and Cosmos. Stephen They also discuss telescopes in other speaker/writer: “We … have no choice P. Maran and parts of the spectrum, such as the 300- but to get our information from inter- Laurence A. meter Arecibo radio telescope in ested and thus biased sources.” M a r s c h a l l . Puerto Rico and the Very Large Array But how can we be sure we are BenBella, 2009. in New Mexico. They conclude the getting the truth about a topic when our 174 pages. $14.95 chapter with the James Webb Space source of information is someone who Telescope, to be launched (we hope) in has his or her own purpose for commu- The year 2009 marks two major 2014, taking over from Hubble. All in nicating? Kochin addresses this ques- anniversaries in astronomy: the 400th all, a remarkable journey, and they take tion by examining ethos, that is, the anniversary of Galileo’s turning the us along. perceived character of the fledgling telescope onto the heavens, Maran and Marschall go on to treat speaker/writer and in particular his or and the 400th anniversary of Johannes other topics in similar fashion, with her reliability as a trusted source of Kepler’s publishing his first two law of chapters on Galileo’s and today’s information. He concludes that the planetary motion. In honor of the tele- knowledge about the Moon, the Sun, inevitable (if partial and tacit) distrust scope anniversary, 2009 is the Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, comets, the between speaker/writer and audience International Year of Astronomy, stars and the Milky Way, and, finally, must be discounted by building trust. declared first by the International cosmology. Kochin explores several ways in Astronomical Union, then by The book ends with a good selec- which a speaker/writer can build trust. UNESCO, and still later by the tion of recommended readings. Alas, Because we judge character by actions, General Assembly of the United there is no index, though. one way is to present one’s record and Nations. A variety of events around the Maran and Marschall’s Galileo’s reputation. Another is to demonstrate world are commemorating the IYA. New Universe is an excellent way, as mastery of the topic by presenting Steve Maran and Larry Marschall, they put it, for readers to be “celebrat- numeric facts, evidence of expertise. both experienced scientists and science ing the telescope’s 400th anniversary.” A third is to use language not only educators, have written an interesting “to present things as they are, but … to and very readable book about Galileo. The Mirror, the maintain ties to the audience one They had the good idea of starting each Window, and the addresses.” This means collapsing the chapter with what Galileo did and then Telescope: How rhetorical triangle so that the topic of continuing to the modern, 21st-century Renaissance the communication between speak- status of the topic. Linear Perspec- er/writer and audience is simply their For example, they tell the interest- tive Changed relationship and the purpose is simply ing story of Galileo’s hearing about a Our Vision of the the reinforcement of that relationship. marvelous “far-seeing tube” in the Universe. Samuel Kochin’s chapter on this use of rhetoric summer of 1609 and using it to get Y. Edgerton. Cornell is titled “Nothing,” after the “sweet tenure and a raise in salary. They go on University Press, nothings” that lovers exchange. to describe how he later pointed this 2009. 199 pages, Kochin ends by arguing that style telescope (not yet named that) at the paperback. $19.95; cloth, $65.00 itself can build trust, particularly what sky later in 1609, and how skillfully he Richard Lanham, in Analyzing Prose, used it. (Two of his telescopes survive; In this International Year of called a “transparent” style. “The style one was recently on display at the Astronomy honoring Galileo’s first use that most effectively persuades is not Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on its of the telescope for astronomy, it is the most heavily ornamented… [but] first trip out of Italy.) particularly suitable that the art-histori- the style that presents clearly and trans- But many people have written an Samuel Edgerton’s work on the parently.” about Galileo’s telescopes. Where importance of perspective for the rela- Maran and Marschall were ingenious tion between art and science be updat- Rick Eden is a senior analyst and the was to go on to discuss “Telescopes ed and extended. It has been almost 20 associate director of research quality Today,” starting with the Keck tele- years since Edgerton’s idea that assurance at RAND, a nonprofit, non- scope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with its Galileo was able to realize that what he
14 The Key Reporter saw when he aimed his telescope at the Ancient Historians and Corporate Lawyers Moon represented the chiaroscuro of mountains and shadows. This idea was More in Common than You Think widely accepted. As Edgerton explains, Thomas by Daniel Levin Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The alle- Hariot in England [his spelling is the gations were that the Waqf Authority 17th-century original] drew what he When people ask how I made the — an Islamic land trust that has con- saw of the Moon through a telescope in leap from practicing law to writing fic- trolled the Mount since 1187 A.D. — July 1609, a few months before Galileo tion, they are surprised to hear my was intentionally destroying all Jewish did his own drawings starting in undergraduate degree in Greek and and Christian ruins beneath the Mount November. But Hariot saw mainly Latin civilization has proved to be as in order to deny any Judeo-Christian blotches, describing them as a “strange practical as my New York State law connection to Jerusalem. spottednesse.” Galileo, on the other license. I began to research archaeological hand, had taught drawing as part of his During my academic coursework destruction all over the world and saw role in Renaissance Florence, and he in the classics department at the a pattern: most World Heritage sites recognized the significance of what he University of Michigan, the ancient were endangered for political purposes saw as mountains, sometimes catching espionage of the Roman world had — as a way to fit the past into ones the first morning rays of sunshine, and always fascinated me. In antiquity, own politics or beliefs. I recognized the casting shadows. He even measured spies lurked around every corner, using ancient-modern parallels of historical the height of some mountains, declar- cipher codes and what was then cutting- revisionism. Roman emperors tried in ing them superior to the terrestrial edge technology to carry messages vain to control history; today it’s being Alps. from the roughest provinces of the done again by people who try to Edgerton’s discussion of Galileo Empire to the polished corridors of the destroy various historical sites, or deny specifically occurs in the preface and imperial palace. I was always drawn to the past to fit their own beliefs and pol- in the ultimate chapter. He was able to the intrigue, politics and personal itics. reproduce, though only in black-and- ambition found in the ancient world For a lawyer, revisionism is fre- white in this 6”x9” paperback produc- because they were as complex and dan- quent, especially in the client’s favor. tion, over 100 illustrations, including gerous as they are today But sometimes, a lawyer must confront the key ones of Galileo’s wash drawing I brought my passion for the his own view of history in order to pro- showing seven phases of the Moon ancient world with me to law school, tect it — both in life and in fiction. and, immediately following, the studying international laws regarding engraved version as printed in 1610 in the museum trade of ancient artifacts, Daniel Levin (FBK, University of the Sidereus Nuncius. Though Edgerton and I have been fortunate enough to Michigan, 1996) currently lives and used, with permission, the plate show- clerk on the Supreme Court of Israel. writes in New York. His new religious ing the latter, and several other illustra- Archaeology is politics in that region and archaeological thriller, The Last tions, from my own copy of Galileo’s of the world. One of the cases before Ember, was published by Riverhead in book (Edgerton is a colleague and friend the Supreme Court was about an August. of mine on the faculty of Williams alleged illegal excavation beneath the College; obviously we share an interest in the key astronomical advances made in the 16th and 17th centuries), I had Edgerton further immortalizes could the whole Moon be seen at one not previously realized that it might “Brunelleschi’s mirror,” demonstrating time), and how hard it was to use. have merely been the engraver who how the use of a mirror to compare Galileo was indeed a talented observer! enlarged the odd-looking crater near with an image through a peephole was As Edgerton summarizes, “Galileo the middle of the printed lunar images. fundamental. Edgerton shows how the proved that the first ‘planet’ in Dante’s Though the engraver would have had discovery of perspective led to magnificent ascent to the heavenly sketches and written or oral instruc- advances in science and in technology, empyrean was hardly the ‘eternal tions from Galileo, he might have been including Galileo’s first telescopes, pearl’ described by the poet, but was told to exaggerate such a key feature, then known as “perspective tubes.” rather a most imperfect sphere, marred which is not as prominent on Galileo’s As part of the International Year of and crinkled just like the lowly Earth.” own wash drawings. Astronomy, a $15 “Galileoscope,” a The rest of Edgerton’s book pro- plastic, working model of one of vides an interesting summary of inter- Galileo’s telescopes, has been made Astronomer and author Jay Pasachoff esting optics-related Renaissance art available either as single copies or, at is the director of Hopkins Observatory history. He argues that the first use of some discount, for class-sized orders and Field Memorial Professor of perspective by the 15th-century painter (www.galileoscope.org). It is instruc- Astronomy at Williams College. Fillipo Brunelleschi transformed how tive to look through it, and so to realize artists perceive and paint the world, how flimsy the apparatus was, how affecting everyone’s perceptions. limited its field of view (so that never
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